Chapter 111: The Most Shady Tactics
The mine was located on the outskirts of the city, naturally exceptionally deserted and desolate. Entering this place in spring, the first thing one saw was a ground littered with withered branches and fallen leaves, their yellowed color a stark contrast to the tender green that should have sprouted, making it clear at a glance that last year's new shoots had tragically died in winter. Bearing so much loneliness and cruelty, it still had to break through the desolate yellow in spring; what people commonly call vitality and tenacity seemed more like a curse to its fate.
This is inevitable. Does the spring breeze that blows by really favor every branch and leaf, or cherish every inch of land? In the so-called beautiful spring, is there no danger or regret?
No, it never was.
Stepping on a withered leaf, Xie Huailing and Bai Feifei walked one after the other from under the tree. Some sparse shadows were cast on the ground, which were soon left behind by them. The soft "crunching" sound was part of the tranquility, accompanying their footsteps as they walked past without looking back.
Xie Huailing walked ahead, the road and countryside all the same, yet she didn't stop, unsure of which direction she was taking Bai Fei. Passing a tree, Xie Huailing suddenly sneezed, then rubbed her nose and said, "This place is so remote, so difficult to walk in. Why can't it be shorter?"
Bai Feifei scoffed, following in her footsteps without breaking a sweat: "According to you, do you think we can mine in the city? Do you really think the government is dead?"
"Officials can also die, and it's good that they're dead." Xie Huailing uttered some more rebellious words. Her embroidered sleeves fluttered in the spring breeze, as if a landscape painting was being created by her. A touch of red in the sleeves was the setting sun.
She continued, "Living is already a nightmare, but the most annoying thing every day is this... What is that stone hall you dug out of the mine?"
The topic jumped around faster than a change of face, as if it were something that came up in a dream and was being said out of nowhere. If you weren't paying attention, it was like dozing off during a martial arts lesson and waking up to find your fellow disciples already learning swordsmanship. Luckily, Bai Feifei was listening and said, "An ancient tomb. Hidden underground, and with a specially built stone hall, what else could it be but an ancient tomb?"
Xie Huailing thought the same way, and to save trouble, she skipped the step of approving of Bai Feifei and continued, "Judging from the stone hall, it can be seen that the scale of this tomb is extraordinary, and the status of the tomb owner is also exceptionally prominent. However, before the inscription is found, probably no one will know this. But we can deduce some other things."
"People in the martial arts world have no taboos, and those from the lowest rungs of society will do anything. Nowadays, there are countless villains and demons who do all sorts of heinous things. Therefore, even ordinary families will tamper with the tomb when someone dies to prevent someone from digging up the burial goods. Although such an ancient tomb is many years old, the defenses were only more stringent when it was built. The stone door that was dug out during the mining is the tomb door. There will never be a second door in the tomb."
She paused at the right moment, and Bai Feifei, understanding her perfectly and possessing a keen mind, continued, "But times have changed, and the ancient tomb has become the place where Chai Yuguan tampered with things. His men even deliberately turned it into a haunted place, killing so many people that the tomb entrance was heavily guarded and completely blocked. Yet this person stayed in the tomb for half a month without revealing anything. A person cannot survive without food and water, which means that he must have considered these things before making his move and left a door open for himself."
"So what we're looking for," Xie Huailing said, looking around at the desolate surroundings and a few lonely trees, "is this door."
It's difficult to say, and even more difficult to talk about. They don't even know how big the tomb is or what its layout is, yet they want to find a secret passage or a door in this wilderness. It sounds like a fantasy. Bai Feifei wasn't entirely without confidence in this matter, but she also wanted to tease Xie Huailing a bit, so she said, "If you have this plan, you should have started working on it last night."
Xie Huailing was surprised: "Didn't I? I was learning geomancy last night, as well as the Qimen Dunjia and Five Elements Dunjia I had learned before. It was very tiring, you know."
Is it useful to learn on the spot?
"Of course. For me, one night is enough."
With her words brimming with confidence, the person continued walking forward, occasionally stopping to squat down and tap the ground, while constantly looking around at her surroundings. Her thoughts drifted even further than the wisp of white cloud that Bai Feifei could see when she looked up. Who knew what she was thinking?
The cloud even looks a bit like a bird. Bai Feifei's thoughts wandered as she looked at it, but she quickly pulled her back and reminded her, "At this time, Shen Lang and Zhu Qiqi should have already gone down into the tomb with the others. You'd better hurry up."
Xie Huailing then looked towards the tomb entrance, slowly stood up, and said, "There's no need to be in such a hurry. Both Chai Yuguan's subordinates' plans and my own plans will take quite some time."
"The fact that you could come up with that plan is a huge mistake for Jin Feng Xi Yu Lou." Bai Feifei seemed to twitch her lips, but given her moral standards and ruthlessness, there was no question of whether to stop it or not. "Just pray that Zhu Qiqi doesn't mess things up so badly that you can't clean up the mess."
Xie Huailing remained relaxed, genuinely not taking it seriously: "There's no situation that can't be resolved; it's just a matter of whether you're willing or not. Besides, don't you think my plan is brilliant? It gave Zhu Qiqi a backup plan, allowing her to do something that no one else could do, thus resolving her instability and preventing Chai Yuguan's men from escaping."
A subtle smile appeared on Bai Feifei's face, faintly cold, and most of the time, this smile would send chills down one's spine: "Not only will Chai Yuguan's men be unable to escape, but everyone who has entered the tomb, except for Shen Lang and Zhu Qiqi, will be unable to escape."
.
In the tomb.
A faint, eerie fire burned on a tinderbox, dimly illuminating the outline of the tomb passage hidden in the darkness, as if stepping into a corner of the underworld, where vengeful spirits might come to claim lives at any moment. Through the firelight, Zhu Qiqi watched the group walking ahead. Someone had already died on the way into the tomb, foreshadowing the eeriness and danger of this journey. But unexpectedly, her heart began to pound wildly with each passing life and the increasingly unsettling atmosphere.
It wasn't out of fear—she should have been a little afraid—but as long as Shen Lang was by her side, she wasn't afraid of anything. Besides, she was different today! Zhu Qiqi stared directly at Shen Lang's profile, then suddenly lowered her head and looked at her hands.
She had nothing in her hands, or at least it looked like nothing. Her clean hands hardly betrayed that she was a woman of the martial world. Her wealth and pampered life had made her hands look precious and valuable. Even after entering the dusty ancient tomb, they hadn't accumulated much dust and looked no different from usual. But Zhu Qiqi just stared at her hands, then wiped them on her clothes and face, and then, remembering something, asked Shen Lang in front of her.
She asked to confirm, "Shen Lang, did you eat what you brought?"
Zhu Qiqi was referring to the medicine Xie Huailing had given them to suppress the poison. They were following behind a group of martial arts practitioners. Shen Lang heard this and turned around. To avoid revealing his intentions, he simply nodded. Then he saw Zhu Qiqi smile, her smile like another peach-colored flame in the firelight. Next, Zhu Qiqi approached, raised her hand, and without a word, fed Shen Lang another milky-white pill.
The pills were sweet, almost like candy. Shen Lang swallowed one without hesitation. He didn't understand Zhu Qiqi's intentions, and before he could ask, he saw Zhu Qiqi also eat one. Then, the group stopped in front of the stone gate, trembling with fear. The leaders were talking; although they were all renowned and skilled heroes, they were all shaken by the numerous strange events that had occurred along the way.
Zhu Qiqi pushed her way through the crowd at that moment. Shen Lang couldn't stop her, and she squeezed to the front. Her sudden action startled the group. Besides, they were all too timid; she was the one who should have thought of a way to open the door.
Shen Lang sensed something was wrong. He should have immediately called out to her, but a glance out of the corner of his eye caught sight of a porcelain bottle in the corner where Zhu Qiqi had just been standing. He froze. The bottle was jade white, the stopper long gone, and although it was lying to the side, the opening was empty, indicating that it had been emptied. Shen Lang squinted slightly and saw several fine, golden lines.
He sighed; how could he not understand? Holding a clod of earth in his hand, and with a slight increase in his internal energy, Shen Lang took advantage of the chaos caused by the sudden opening of the stone hall door to smash the porcelain bottle to pieces.
Porcelain shards fluttered in the corners of the tomb passage, so inconspicuous that they seemed like mere specks of dust, as if nothing had ever existed.
.
"'Poison within poison,' a medicine from the Western Regions."
A tree branch blocked her way. Without turning her head or going around it, Bai Feifei simply snapped the entire branch off. Serves it right for blocking her path: "The name is interesting, but not wrong. It is poisonous, but it's better suited for using poison to fight poison and remove stubborn toxins, so it was used as medicine. Over time, many people have forgotten its original domineering toxicity. Also, because the poisonous materials it requires only grow in the desert, for nearly a hundred years, almost no one in the martial arts world has heard of it."
"Once this poison enters the body, it will immediately lie dormant. If no other poison counteracts it within half a day, it will take effect, leaving the person unable to live or die; but if it counteracts a second poison, it will fight poison with poison, and when the other poison takes effect, it will perish together with it, and the poisoned person will fall into a deep sleep, as if under a mild sedative. When they wake up, they will feel completely refreshed and will not have noticed anything."
Bai Feifei slowly said, "Not only that, 'Poison of Poison' is also domineering in other aspects. It doesn't need to be ingested; just a light sniff is enough to poison someone instantly. Moreover, if a person is poisoned and has even a trace of it on their body, it won't go away for half an hour. And during this time, anyone who comes into contact with the poisoned person will also be poisoned immediately. Xie Huailing, you have truly used an incredibly poisonous and incredibly effective trick."
That's true. This tactic is extremely risky, but it's also the most effective. No matter what Chai Yuguan's men want to do, they all need to contact the people who have entered the tomb first. And Chai Yuguan is extremely skilled with poisons. Therefore, Xie Huailing prepared this plan. There's no need to worry about involving passersby in the ancient tomb; it's so eerie and unsettling that even flies can't get in. As long as everyone else is poisoned, Chai Yuguan's men will definitely be in trouble.
This subordinate was a master of poisons, and having prepared for so long, it was virtually impossible for the other martial artists in the tomb to escape his poison. This, in turn, served Xie Huailing's purpose. Those who wanted to trap him like a turtle in a jar probably never imagined they would be outmaneuvered like this.
Xie Huailing didn't think there was anything wrong with her praise, and said, "You think so highly of me? I'm honored."
Bai Feifei asked again, "Aren't you afraid of going too far?"
"What's there to be afraid of? If you're afraid of this and that, what's the point of making a plan?" Xie Huailing didn't care much, her gaze wandering aimlessly, as if in a dream. "Besides, no matter what happens, I still came in person, didn't I?"
Bai Feifei was also observing her surroundings, looking at all the plants and trees around her: "Didn't you consider that the onset of 'poisoning' takes a full half day? Shen Lang and Zhu Qiqi can't stay down there for half a day. If Chai Yuguan's men want to run or take action, 'poisoning' won't be of any use."
Xie Huailing exclaimed "Ah!", somewhat bewildered and confused. Bai Feifei thought she had suddenly realized something, but upon glancing over, she realized that the person had been hit on the head by a tree branch by the roadside and had seen her covering her head and avoiding it.
The disheveled Xie Huailing touched her forehead, feeling sorry for herself, and said, "Ouch, it hurts so much... What did you ask me again? Oh, I don't know, I modified it when I was at the Golden Wind and Fine Rain Pavilion. As long as I take out the medicine I specify, it will take effect immediately... I need to find time to uproot this tree."
Bai Feifei was speechless for a moment, and ignored her urging her to keep going.
Xie Huailing, however, kept going on and on, nagging in her ear like a string of pearls rolling on the ground: "I read all kinds of books, so of course I learn a little bit of everything. Although there are more bad things than good things, we don't care about that. Besides, I've talked to the doctor in the building. There's nothing wrong with this method. It's just that if you use my 'poisoning within poison' to detoxify, there will be a few days of calming soup effect, which will have a short-term impact on your personality, but it's not a big problem."
She added, "Oh right, after I figured it out, I wondered if Su Mengzhen's personality was just a result of taking too much medicine."
Bai Feifei's voice drifted out, clearly familiar with the pattern of this conversation, and she said, "I don't want to listen."
But Xie Huailing continued, "However, I went to ask him in person later, and he said no."
"You're crazy. I already told you I don't want to hear it."
"Just listen to it, anyway, you and Su Mengzhen are about as easy to bully."
"How dare you say that out loud!" Bai Feifei stopped in her tracks, her sharp gaze immediately sweeping over, but to no avail; it couldn't penetrate Xie Huailing's skin at all. Xie Huailing also stopped and waited for her, using that innocent face to say, "That's why I recommended you to Jin Feng Xi Yu Lou. Doesn't it feel much warmer here, like home? But it's alright, actually you two aren't exactly the easiest to bully."
"..." Bai Feifei's fist hardened.
But she didn't fire, because a few meters away, behind a clump of weeds, she could already see a crack under the stone.
This guy actually found it.
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The easiest one to bully is Di Feijing.
Actually, there were some plot points I really wanted to include, especially a section later in this volume, but it would have felt strange to insert it into the main text, so I gave up on that idea.
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