Chapter 116: A Twist of Fate (Part 2)
"What's going on?!" Zhu Qiqi wanted to step forward, but took a step back. It was her trust in Shen Lang that kept her from blindly sticking to the stone wall.
She looked around, but Bai Choufei was nowhere to be seen. Besides her, only Shen Lang remained standing in the tomb passage. Light from the exit streamed down, illuminating his blood-stained upper body. She also saw, behind the floating dust, in the dim, gray haze, a trickle of blood flowing from Jin Wuwang's lips. He staggered a few steps, nearly falling to the ground, and Shen Lang caught him to prevent him from collapsing. It all seemed like an illusion.
Zhu Qiqi stood there blankly, unsure whether to go and ask Shen Lang for help or to find out what was going on first. She opened her mouth wide, but didn't know what to say. As she looked around, someone tapped on the stone wall not far away with their finger, which brought her soul back into her body.
"Don't just stand there like an idiot."
To everyone's surprise, her friend, whom she hadn't seen for half a day, appeared here. Although she was covered in dust and looked a little tired, when she looked over, her seemingly helpless eyes strangely calmed Zhu Qiqi's heart: "Come and help me up."
Zhu Qiqi snapped out of her daze. She couldn't mistake that tone. Her mind finally cleared, and she ran forward to support Xie Huailing's hands, looking her up and down. Suddenly reassured, she asked, "What are you doing here? What happened in this tomb? It seems like two people left just now, and you are..."
Xie Huailing was feeling dizzy and lightheaded, with stars practically popping out of her head. She couldn't possibly listen to Zhu Qiqi's endless chatter: "Take it easy, take it easy. It's not like I won't tell you. Go check on Shen Lang first."
With her full weight pressing down on Zhu Qiqi, she was able to exhale comfortably, and the discomfort that had been pressing on her body also left the room that called her body, as if taking in fresh air. Seeing her appearance, Zhu Qiqi listened to her and didn't ask any more questions. Although she was still fuming inside, she quietly helped Xie Huailing to Shen Lang's side.
What was Shen Lang doing? Shen Lang was taking Jin Wuwang's pulse. His medical skills weren't exactly top-notch, but after years of traveling the martial world, he was more than capable of treating injuries. His slightly furrowed brows relaxed, and he put down his hand that was checking the pulse, saying, "Brother Jin, you can rest assured, the injury isn't serious. It won't leave any internal injuries. He just needs to recuperate for a few days."
Jin Wuwang's usually cold and ruthless triangular eyes trembled, revealing an unexpected emotion. Looking at Shen Lang, who hadn't taken his life, he asked in bewilderment, "Why didn't you kill me? Why did you save me?"
Yes, just now in the darkness, when Bai Choufei ambushed Jin Wuwang, it was Shen Lang who turned his spear around and struck Bai Choufei with a palm, thus saving Jin Wuwang's life. Otherwise, he would probably have died like a stray dog, humiliated and hopeless, forever trapped in the ancient tomb, becoming a person identical to his name, his soul gone and never to return.
Shen Lang did not answer, but only smiled, still with his clear eyes and elegant demeanor, truly a gentleman of the world.
Zhu Qiqi, who was standing to one side, didn't understand how things had turned out this way, but she understood Shen Lang. She replied, "Saving people doesn't require a reason, but killing people does. It's much harder for him to watch you die without any explanation than to kill you."
Upon hearing this, Jin Wuwang stared blankly at Shen Lang. This man, with a heart of iron, who had killed countless people in his life and whose ruthlessness was universally despised, was now utterly convinced. He gritted his teeth and sighed through his teeth. Even villains have their degrees of virtue; in Jin Wuwang's life, he still knew the meaning of gratitude and righteousness: "Good! Lord Shen is a true hero of the highest order. I will no longer be a heartless and wicked villain!"
His face was stern, and he had made up his mind. He said loudly, "The so-called person who worked with me, who was only after my position and was willing to fight me to the death, has saved my life. I know you must have something to ask for, but the kindness is as heavy as a mountain. Would it be wrong not to repay it? Even if you want to take my life in the future, I, Jin Wuwang, will do as you please!"
Outside of Bianjing, these men of the martial world are sometimes just that simple.
Seeing this, Xie Huailing knew that this "financial envoy" would no longer hide anything. She admired Shen Lang's intelligence, but also his temperament. She knew that Shen Lang must have had a plan to save Jin Wuwang, but at least half of it was driven by his nature.
Shen Lang then spoke, saying, "Since Young Master Jin can say such things, he can no longer be considered a complete villain."
That's true, at least in Xie Huailing's opinion, in Bianjing City, someone like Jin Wuwang would be considered to have a conscience. Although she didn't quite understand the ins and outs, after listening to the conversation between the two, there was nothing she didn't understand. However, Zhu Qiqi was still quite confused after hearing this. She looked around at the three people beside her and felt that she was the only one who was still in the dark. She couldn't help but ask again.
She said, "So what exactly happened? How did this person get injured and then save someone? Tell me slowly, one by one, just tell me!" They're all treating her like a child!
Shen Lang, mindful of the blood covering half his body, didn't go to Zhu Qiqi's side to properly explain things to her. Jin Wuwang spoke first. Recalling the blow Bai Choufei had given him, he frowned: "It's still my fault. I should have realized his intentions sooner when he came to ask me about 'Wonderful Gentleman'."
Zhu Qiqi suddenly realized and said, "So that's how it is. He wanted to take your place as 'Treasurer' and learn the martial arts that 'King of Joy' taught you, so he came to ambush you. On the bright side, at least he didn't succeed."
"Not necessarily." Xie Huailing poured cold water on the idea. "I think he's already succeeded. This was a foolproof tactic to begin with."
Shen Lang sighed softly, then picked up on Xie Huailing's train of thought: "That's right. Although he didn't succeed, he did discover that I was the one who saved Brother Jin. When he goes back, he can simply claim that Brother Jin was in cahoots with me and had already betrayed 'King of Joy.' In this way, the position of 'Treasurer' and the martial arts secrets will still be his. And Brother Jin has been forced to this point, and going back would only lead to his death, so naturally, the only way for him to survive is to confirm his betrayal."
What a shrewd plan! Zhu Qiqi clicked her tongue in amazement, feeling a chill run down her spine. Regardless of whether Jin Wuwang was dead or not, Bai Choufei had completely outmaneuvered her. This man who had countered her move actually harbored such deep thoughts beneath his face. For a moment, she was grateful that she had escaped death and hadn't been harmed by him.
She looked at Xie Huailing again, and this time, before she could ask, Shen Lang spoke up: "Where is Miss Xie? It seems that quite a few other things happened inside the ancient tomb today."
Xie Huailing raised her head slightly, glancing down from under her eyelashes. She brushed the dust off her shoulders, including the part of Bai Feifei's face, and said lightly, "I was just about to say that. As you all have probably noticed, there are many people in the ancient tomb today. I originally came to meet you, but I didn't expect to encounter an uninvited guest, so I simply played along with him."
"Who?" Zhu Qiqi immediately asked.
Her worries were obvious. If she hadn't confirmed that Xie Huailing wasn't injured, her heart would have been in her throat again. When she heard Xie Huailing reply, "I don't know his name either. He escaped in the darkness just now, just like Bai Choufei. But we'll meet again sooner or later. When he gets out of my hands then, it won't be as simple as it is today," she was deeply moved.
After saying that, Xie Huailing snorted and muttered something to himself. Then, he changed the subject and said, "Young Master Jin's injuries still need to be treated, and the unconscious people need to be rescued first. There are also many other things that need to be done. Unfortunately, I have to go ahead. Since I am no longer needed to provide support here, I will return first."
Shen Lang nodded. Since Xie Huailing said that there were people waiting for her upstairs, he didn't say anything more and just asked Zhu Qiqi to take Xie Huailing up. After Zhu Qiqi used her last clean handkerchief to carefully wipe Xie Huailing's face, she went back to join Shen Lang and Jin Wuwang to rescue people. In the vast countryside, Xie Huailing stood alone.
The evening clouds had already begun to peek out; when they arrived, the sky was clear and blue, but now they resembled a bowl of spilled blood, hanging down in a thin, silent gloom. A gust of wind swept through, and the rising mist, like a light veil, added a touch of desolation, entwining the splendor of the setting sun.
Suddenly she started sighing and groaning, squatted down by the exit, picked up a dry twig and began drawing circles with her fingers, as if cursing someone.
After drawing a dozen or so circles, another shadow jumped up from the exit and squatted down beside her, watching her ruin the ground.
Xie Huailing was still sighing, muttering to herself, as if she were circling around herself, enveloping herself. Bai Feifei couldn't understand a word she was saying; it was probably her hometown dialect. Bai Feifei didn't intend to understand, so she just stayed with her for a while.
Only after Xie Huailing lowered her voice and buried her head in her knees did Bai Feifei speak: "How is it?"
Without fully understanding what she was asking, Xie Huailing's voice was muffled, and her heart felt heavy as well: "Nothing much, it's really annoying."
At this point, only the two of them could lay everything out in the open, without hiding a single word. Bai Feifei also spoke frankly: "I should have followed Bai Choufei."
She was thinking that following him would at least allow her to find out more information about Chaiyu Pass, but Xie Huailing didn't care about that. She moved her head slightly, probably while keeping her head down and doing some small movements, and said, "There's no need to blame yourself. You didn't know his plan when he ran away. With so many changes in one day, you were able to understand what I meant and adapt to the situation just now. Feifei, you've done more than enough."
Xie Huailing could tell that the young master who had kidnapped her intended to remain neutral, waiting for Shen Lang and Jin Wuwang to restart the mechanism so they could settle the score. He planned to then reap the benefits and lure Bai Feifei out. This man was strangely clever, but fortunately, Bai Feifei extinguished her torch just as the mechanism restarted, effectively reminding Shen Lang and the others of the presence of a fifth person. This forced him to release Xie Huailing and leave first.
Bai Feifei didn't think so. She had 200% confidence in herself and therefore felt she was capable of doing more. However, she didn't make things difficult for herself. She turned her head and poked Xie Huailing's head with a finger, pressing down her sticking-out hair: "What happened while he was holding you captive?"
"This..." Xie Huailing sighed again before finally revealing the truth without any hesitation.
Their interactions could truly be described as a battle of wits, a constant struggle between the two. Frankly, the young master's intelligence slightly exceeded her expectations; he saw through schemes and tricks with remarkable clarity, as if observing fish through water. Initially, Xie Huailing couldn't deceive him with just a few words, so she had to mix in the truth. From this perspective, he was indeed a troublesome character. Unfortunately, just like observing fish through water has its flaws, he wasn't so troublesome that Xie Huailing couldn't bring herself to harm him.
When asked about how she used Bai Feifei's slander to trick him into believing he was poisoned, Xie Huailing said, "It was clever, but it was still a bit lacking. When he went back and checked his wounds and found that he wasn't poisoned, he probably looked quite pleased with himself. Then he would hate and curse me, and after another quarter of an hour or two, the 'poisoning' would take effect."
Not everyone in the world has the profound inner strength of Shi Guanyin, who can clearly perceive everything in her body and sense the onset of the poison. Xie Huailing truly regrets that she cannot witness it firsthand. She knows how angry the young master will be when he realizes he has been deceived twice, with one lie covering another.
"He can certainly suppress the pain and avoid suffering with other medications, but more importantly, the 'poisoning' after the attack loses its medicinal properties and becomes a pure poison, which is not so easy to cure. Especially since I have modified the poison formula, even if he is a child prodigy, it will take him several days to figure out the formula, and the intervals between poisoning attacks are getting shorter and shorter. Therefore, he will have to come to me again. And by then..."
Bai Feifei continued, "His identity, his grudge against Chai Yuguan, and why he interfered can all be explained."
"No." Xie Huailing's voice was even lower, filled with resentment, which made her sound somewhat ghostly, and a small ghost seemed to float out from above her head. "If it were me, I could find a way to kill him."
...Something else must have happened, Bai Feifei realized.
She looked at the head that wouldn't lift and only moved occasionally, and without engaging in further conversation with Xie Huailing, she went straight to the point and asked, "What else happened?"
Xie Huailing didn't answer, instead starting a completely new topic. Her usually pristine white skirt and sleeves were now hanging to the ground. Bai Feifei, with her sharp eyes, noticed that both the skirt and sleeves were excessively dirty, making Xie Huailing herself look disheveled, as if she'd been in a fight. Xie Huailing said, "There's no need to investigate his identity anymore. He has something on him that's enough to answer all these questions."
"Tell me what else happened first."
“He has the Heavenly Cloud Token.”
Xie Huailing didn't reply at all, completely lost in his own world. The little ghost hovered melancholically above his head: "Fairy Yunmeng's Heavenly Cloud Token wasn't hidden very well. It seems she's either not afraid of being discovered, or she has another purpose. So, whether it's true or not, he can't be separated from Wang Yunmeng, who faked her death nine years ago but is actually still alive. He also took the treasures and martial arts from Gaoshan Qing's tomb, which is most likely also related to Wang Yunmeng."
"Having lived in anonymity for so many years and needed so much money, Wang Yunmeng's ambitions must be immense. I once thought that Wang Yunmeng's faked death might be closely related to Chai Yuguan, and that the two of them might have faked their deaths together. But now it seems that this assumption is completely wrong. Wang Yunmeng is very likely related to Chai Yuguan, but they are not on good terms, and may even have a deep-seated hatred for each other. Chai Yuguan doesn't even know that Wang Yunmeng is still alive. If that's the case, he can also do some tricks."
Bai Feifei had only one question. She wasn't indifferent to the matter of Fairy Yunmeng, but at this moment, there was clearly something more important and worth asking. She directly seized on her words: "Don't talk to me about that. What I care about is what exactly happened, and you can't tell me."
Xie Huailing remained silent, then moved her head twice more.
Bai Feifei waited a few seconds, until the hazy clouds on the horizon stretched to the edge of the world, and the outline of the red sun kissed the horizon, before Xie Huailing's voice finally stopped sounding muffled. Her temper was often unusually calm, and she rarely reacted strongly to anything. At this moment, she raised her head slightly, allowing Bai Feifei to clearly see her deathly indifferent face and the movements of her hands.
It turned out that the occasional movement of her head was because she was wiping her hands.
"Damn it, I'm going to report this to the authorities." Xie Huailing said expressionlessly, still recovering her mental strength. "How disgusting, he's really disgusting. If I have another chance, I'm going to shave his hairline back three centimeters, I'm going to poke him with an umbrella and then open it... How disgusting, how can there be such a disgusting person in the world?"
The last sentence was cut off midway; Xie Huailing didn't finish speaking before lowering his head to wipe his hands.
Bai Feifei waited a few more seconds before learning about another story that happened after Xie Huailing called the young master "self-righteous" and the young master dragged her to find the mechanism.
.
In the dimly lit tomb passage, a man and a woman walked two or three fist-widths apart inside the underworld-like tomb chamber, with a tinderbox burning with a flame the size of a soybean.
Ever since Xie Huailing finished speaking, the young master's lips had remained pursed. The hatred in his eyes was undeniable, thankfully well concealed, and Xie Huailing was aware of its presence. However, after a brief laugh, he inexplicably appeared genuinely hurt by those words, his expression melancholic, like a wisp of mist that seemed about to dissipate. His stature was impeccable, but the dim firelight obscured his face, creating an indescribable air of mystery.
Unfortunately, the one thing Xie Huailing could never learn was how to cherish a man. She could only think that her initial assessment of Di Feijing was too hasty. The movie star was right there, saying, "Could you please stop putting on this act?"
The young master turned his head and looked over. He was thin and listless, and said in a low voice, "You say I'm being presumptuous, but I'm not allowed to be sad?"
"No," Xie Huailing said bluntly, "What I mean is, please stop being so pretentious. It's really unsightly. You should know that your face isn't suited for this role. If you're still holding a grudge and want to get back at me for that, please find another way."
Since she had already said it, she might as well say more. Some people look like phantoms in the dim light, their shadows heavy with glitter, but their words are anything but polite: "I have no interest in understanding the inner thoughts of unattractive men. It's no use you acting for me. Although I can't see you clearly in this light, I remember you're not good-looking, and that's it. Don't make things difficult for me anymore."
Young Master: "..."
Caught red-handed, he clenched his fists tighter in his sleeves, but instead laughed. Even though he was the one being criticized, and he himself had been attracted to the girl's face first, he insisted on saying, "How can a girl judge a book by its cover? Men who aren't good-looking didn't intentionally look like that. You can't just say hurtful things because you're pretty."
"However, even so..."
He moved closer, as if he had truly given his heart to Xie Huailing. However, the tinderbox was pointing downwards, and the light shining from below could almost turn anyone into a hideous monster, let alone the face he wore, which was by no means handsome.
If it were just this distance and this posture, it wouldn't be a problem; Xie Huailing isn't someone who gets scared easily. The problem is that he's deliberately saying ambiguous things, trying to get some kind of revenge from it. This is a kind of hurt to Xie Huailing: "Even so, I really like you, young lady. I'm very wealthy. If you marry me, it'll all be yours. What do you say?"
Before Xie Huailing could speak again, he continued, "When that time comes, we'll be a perfect match. Although I'm of average appearance, I'm sure you won't mind. We'll spend our days together and live happily ever after. Oh, and maybe in a few years, my appearance will become even uglier..."
Then he said something else, but Xie Huailing didn't want to think about it at all. She wasn't usually superficial, but this situation was completely different. She knew he was just trying to disgust her, but the image had already flashed before her eyes, and she had miscalculated; she was truly disgusted.
She preferred to walk close to the stone wall, getting her clothes dirty with the dust, and whenever the young master came near, she would immediately slap him away, retorting to every single one of his lies. He was relentless, and she didn't know if he would never forget that phrase "self-righteous," until Xie Huailing's heart stirred, and her murderous intent arose. She grew increasingly impatient, increasingly longing for the ground, turning her head away, finally becoming the one who couldn't bear it any longer, and simply delivered a swift and decisive blow to his hatred.
She said, "Do you know that being so eager for revenge only makes you seem more incompetent?"
.
"Then what?"
"Then he told me, 'You'd better remember this forever,' and then he harassed me even more the whole way. I completely miscalculated... He even pretended to kiss me, which I slapped away. Isn't he just like a five-year-old?"
"So that's why you're wiping your hands here. If he's five, you're at most three."
"If I were three years old, could you make up for the New Year's money you gave me—uh!"
Xie Huailing, who had been hit, let out a loud bang and was unable to finish speaking before Bai Feifei could finish her sentence.
Bai Feifei withdrew her hand and commented sharply, "He's going to hate you to death."
Xie Huailing covered her head and replied, "I hate him to death too."
She looked sullen, and her calm tone conveyed no emotion at all. She said, "If you're going to get back at me, hurry up. Am I not going to get back at him? We still need to investigate things related to Wang Yunmeng. I'm afraid he won't come." After saying that, she rubbed her palms together until they were red.
————————!!————————
Thank you, Gong Ya'er, for the extra chapter for the long review! There will be another chapter tomorrow or the day after as a thank you for the votes! [cheering emoji] Thank you so much for the long review, I was completely overwhelmed when I received it. Baby, I will always watch over you! [crying emoji]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com