Just as Lanxiang turned away in a daze, about to leave, she suddenly seemed to remember something and stopped, saying with her back to Lanxiang, "Originally, someone wanted to see you. He asked me to tell you that he was from your hometown of Nan'an and had come specifically to visit you. However, seeing that you seem to have truly gone mad, it seems this is your ultimate fate in this life. It's pitiful that you've spent your whole life dreaming of returning to your hometown of Nan'an, seeing your people and things again... But now, after finally waiting for a fellow townsman to come and visit you, you... have gone mad!"
A mix of emotions welled up inside her, but she could only sigh heavily. After a brief pause, Lanxiang continued, "We've met by chance in this life, and I want to give you a few pieces of advice: In your next life, remember never to do bad things again. That way, your life won't be so painful and miserable. No matter what your reasons or purposes are, they cannot be used as a reason or excuse for revenge. Child, no matter where he is or who he's with, as long as he's your own flesh and blood, he will always cherish you. He can sense everything about you."
As soon as Lanxiang finished speaking, she turned around and walked straight out without looking back.
Only someone who has personally experienced it could speak with such vivid empathy.
When she said these words to the madam, couldn't she also have thought of someone who shared the same blood as her?
Even though she had never met him in her life, she always felt his presence intensely. Sometimes, even whether he was doing well or not would appear in her vivid dreams.
She knew and firmly believed that one day they would meet. This connection that transcended distance was an innate quality that nothing could erase, not even the deep-seated, irreconcilable hatred.
At this moment, the madam's consciousness, which was truly on the verge of collapse, seemed to gradually regain its clarity. Her eyes were still somewhat dazed and blank, but she murmured excitedly, "Ice Beauty Poison Gu, Ice Beauty Poison Gu..."
Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly stumbled to her feet, her hands trembling as she unlocked the door again and strode into her little dark room filled with dragon poison.
Just after Lanxiang stepped out of the madam's room, a furtive man hiding in the shadows hurriedly came to the pavilion in the backyard of Wanjiao Pavilion and reported to Tuoba Ze's personal guard, "Reporting to my lord, that girl Lanxiang has appeared."
"Oh? Where is it?" The guard was greatly surprised and immediately put the gleaming sword he had just polished into its sheath, which he was carefully examining while sitting upright, and placed it on the table in front of him.
It turned out that the man was one of the bodyguard's subordinates. Ever since Lanxiang, Cheng Liang, and Young Master Yi stepped into the Wanjiao Pavilion at dawn, they had been watching and following them closely.
The subordinate replied, "She should be in the front hall now."
"Oh? Has she lost her mind, daring to come here to die? If that's the case, why not just bring that bitch to me?" The bodyguard looked up at his subordinate and said angrily.
The subordinate hesitated and stammered, saying, "Sir, Lanxiang...she's with the King of Qin's men; they came together."
Upon hearing this, the guard's eyes widened in surprise, but after a moment he said calmly, "Hmph... She's from my Wanjiao Pavilion. Even if the Heavenly King himself came, what could he do?"
The subordinate glanced timidly at the guard, gritted his teeth, and then cautiously said, "Sir... the madam returned Lanxiang's indenture to her, so... she is no longer a member of Wanjiao Pavilion."
Upon hearing this, the head guard stood up angrily, his eyes wide, and shouted, "What? He's truly 'more trouble than he's worth'! Is this old bastard tired of living? How dare he release people without the master's permission?"
The subordinate immediately lowered his head in fright and asked in a low voice, "What should we do now?"
The head guard closed his eyes slightly, pondered for a moment, and then murmured, "Lanxiang probably doesn't know His Highness's identity yet, but we must nip it in the bud and leave no trace. This time, no matter what, we must find a way to get rid of her..." Before he could finish speaking, his eyes had already transformed into a fierce and incomparably sharp sword.
His subordinate immediately understood and said, "I understand."
After a slight hesitation, the subordinate added, "There's one more thing. Just now, Lanxiang went to see the madam, and I vaguely heard that it was someone from the King of Qin who wanted to see her, or perhaps someone from the madam's hometown."
Upon hearing this, the head guard immediately shouted, "No! We absolutely cannot let her see the King of Qin's men!"
Tuoba Ze had always been wary of the madam's loyalty, but unlike Lanxiang, the madam knew too much about their plans and was naturally afraid that she would turn against them.
Moreover, the Ice Beauty Poison Gu is about to be completed. At this critical juncture, we must not take any risks. Duan cannot let a moment of negligence lead to someone else's benefit.
However, judging from the current situation, the King of Qin is pressing him very hard, sending people to Wanjiao Pavilion several times a day. It is unknown what he is planning.
It was clear that they couldn't wait until the Ice Beauty's poison gu was perfected before they could use it on Prince Qin, Xuanyuan Han, and then leave.
Thinking of this, the head of the guards immediately made a very important decision: "We must immediately go all out to assassinate Lanxiang, and then take the madam and evacuate back to the country."
"Yes," the subordinate replied, and immediately withdrew to make arrangements.
At this moment, the head guard's eyes were filled with murderous intent. He quickly picked up the sword he had just wiped clean and hurried downstairs.
In the madam's secret room.
With her eyes closed and her mouth chanting some incomprehensible incantations, wisps of fiery red smoke slowly emanated from the body of the dragon-gu, just like silk threads being drawn from a glass bottle containing the ice beauty who was flapping her wings and scattering drops of blood-like petals. These smokes were then absorbed into the body of the blood-red ice beauty.
Strand by strand, thread by thread, it gradually drained away all the essence and soul of its life. At this moment, it must be in so much pain…
Soon, the dragon-like creature lay motionless at the bottom of the exquisite glass bottle, barely clinging to life, until it finally ceased its sorrowful and hopeless struggle after its last breath had dissipated.
However, at this moment, the Ice Beauty stopped her graceful dance and slowly landed at the bottom of the bottle, next to the corpse of the Dragon Gu, remaining motionless and only blinking at it.
It seems to be grateful for its sacrifice, thus enabling its own rebirth and new beginning. Yet it also seems to hate and despise itself for being about to become the most evil tool used by some.
Suddenly, the ice beauty that had fallen beside the dragon and absorbed all its spiritual power began to flicker with dazzling flames in every vein of its body, as if it had undergone a fiery trial and been reborn at an even higher level, a transformation that was exhilarating.
The madam stared wide-eyed as she witnessed this historic moment. The world had only heard of the magnificent Ice Beauty Gu, but no one had ever seen it in person. Yet she was fortunate enough to personally create it in her lifetime.
The madam was stunned for a moment. "So this is the legendary Ice Beauty Gu. Still as a beautiful woman, her blood-red color is more pitiful than blood; in motion, she is like a lover weeping blood, tragically beautiful and heartbreaking; rebirth is like a beauty bathing and burning in blood and fire, the red flames intertwining to form a new life, creating the most poisonous and beautiful Ice Beauty Gu in the world. It is truly beautiful!"
"The Ice Beauty Gu has been successfully cultivated!" Unexpectedly, Tuoba Ze's close guards and his men, who were hiding in a dark corner, had seen everything clearly inside the room and were all amazed by what they were seeing.
Meanwhile, in a private room in the front hall of Wanjiao Pavilion, Yi Junhao and Cheng Liang were calmly enjoying their tea.
Clearly, this trip to Wanjiao Pavilion was Cheng Liang's most relaxed one yet. Even the expression on his face had completely lost its previous solemnity. Because the current situation was one of 'knowing yourself and your enemy'.
Moreover, with Yi Junhao's addition, even if there are powerful poison masters in Wanjiao Pavilion, with the personal intervention of the Crown Prince of Nan'an, he can completely ignore them and treat them as air. He is determined to succeed in this operation.
Thanks to the comprehensive information provided by King Xuanyuan Han of Qin, Yi Junhao was no longer like a headless fly, wandering around aimlessly.
He learned that the most important thing now was to find the secret mechanism hidden in the attic in the backyard of Wanjiao Pavilion as soon as possible, and perhaps the madam was his best breakthrough.
At this moment, he was eagerly anticipating Lanxiang bringing over that extremely mysterious madam so he could finally see the true face of this poison master who possessed the superior poison techniques of the Southern Kingdom.
Of course, he was also very interested to know who in the Southern Kingdom was so capable of making such a skilled poison master fall to the Western Qin Kingdom and become a madam in a brothel, making a living by selling the bodies of women.
Just as the two of them were each lost in their own thoughts, Lanxiang walked back to the private room with heavy steps, head down and blank expression.
A moment later, she stood outside the door and let out a long sigh, as if trying to calm her agitated emotions.
She then reached out and pushed the door open, before slowly closing it behind her. After a moment's hesitation, she turned to the two expectant men in front of her and said, "General Cheng, Third Young Master, the madam... she seems to have gone mad."
"What?"
Upon hearing this, both of them stood up simultaneously, their eyes wide with surprise, and exclaimed.
Just then, a soft knocking sound came from the door, "knock, knock, knock."
Lanxiang then turned around and opened the door again, only to find that the person who came in was the mute girl named Lian'er, who was holding a cup of fragrant rose tea.
When Lanxiang saw her, her face lit up with joy. She warmly stepped forward, took her hand, and greeted her with a smile, "Lian'er, it's you! Come in quickly. How have you been these days? Have they hit you? Have they made things difficult for you...?"
As they talked, Lanxiang seemed to notice that Lian'er was somewhat different from usual today, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong.
Lian'er usually lived a simple life, her clothes and food being the worst in Wanjiao Pavilion. But today, she wore a very warm, pink cotton dress made of the most fashionable fabric of the moment, and her hair was adorned with silver hairpins and exquisite hair ornaments. If you smelled it closely, the perfume emanating from her was very expensive. Dressed like this, she had truly transformed into a pretty little beauty.
After carefully examining her from head to toe, Lanxiang had a bad feeling. She gritted her teeth and cursed angrily, "These beasts from the Northern Lie Kingdom are worse than pigs and dogs. They won't even spare a poor mute. Lian'er, I'm asking you, did they force you to serve customers?"
However, Lian'er just shook her head frantically when she heard this.
Lanxiang, however, remained unfazed and said, "Don't be afraid. From now on, I will protect you and will never let anyone bully you again."
As Lanxiang spoke, she dragged Lian'er in front of Cheng Liang and Yi Junhao, pointing at the two and saying, "Lian'er, look, these two are both people of His Highness Prince Qin. His Highness Prince Qin is here, we are saved. Soon, all the sisters in our Wanjiao Pavilion will be saved. From now on, things will get better and better for us."
Lian'er smiled, seemingly captivated by Lanxiang's longing and yearning for a bright future and a free life. Her face revealed the happiest smile she had ever had in her life.
"Is this cup of tea... for me? It smells so good! I'm actually quite thirsty." Lanxiang noticed the cup of rose tea in Lian'er's hand when she saw Lian'er finally smile happily, and reached out to take it from her.
But Lian'er shook her head desperately again...
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