Chapter 7 "How come I didn't know you were so heavy..."
After waiting for a long time without anyone showing up, the "King of Understanding" looked at Jiang Huaisu suspiciously: "Are you sure you're important to him?"
"Then why did you take me hostage? I thought you had at least observed me for a while and thought that I had a good relationship with Miaolian before you used me to threaten him."
The Confidant King said confidently, "I have observed it. You are the closest to him. If you are willing to act as a go-between, things will be much easier. If I get the immortal's flesh, I can also share a piece of the pie with you."
"Why didn't you try to persuade me again?" Jiang Huaisu said indignantly. "Just because I said I didn't want to, you gave up on this path? If I had known that refusing would result in becoming a hostage, I would definitely have agreed to your request."
"Do you think I'm stupid? You'll just pretend to agree, then go and expose me to him later. Wouldn't all my efforts have been for nothing?"
Jiang Huaisu followed up the conversation and began to analyze the situation seriously with him: "That makes sense. But if you have to choose a hostage, I think Master Zhen is a better choice."
"He doesn't have a good relationship with his family. And aren't those two also reincarnated gods? Hehe, compared to them, you're the easiest to handle. No background, no connections, no power. I'll choose you, I'll choose you."
"......"
Jiang Huaisu felt that her life was so miserable. How could a transmigrator not have any cheat codes?
“It’s dawn.” King Zhixin looked outside the cave. “Zhen Miaolian can find the letter I left if she goes to the pavilion to look for you. If she doesn’t come in two more hours, I will boil you.”
"Two hours?" Jiang Huaisu exclaimed in alarm. "That's not enough. What if he wants to sleep in today, or what if he gets held up by something and can't get away for a while?"
"Two hours is enough. If it takes longer, it means you don't hold a high place in his heart, and he's too lazy to make the trip for you."
"Since you've chosen me, can you trust me a little more?" Jiang Huaisu tried to smooth things over. "I'm really important to him. He would go through fire and water to save me... Can't you give him a little more time?"
Miaolian's voice rang out at just the right moment:
How come I didn't know you were that important?
It was hard to tell whether she felt more embarrassed or happy at that moment. Jiang Huaisu swallowed hard and turned to look outside the cave at the same time as the King of Hearts.
The young boy stood backlit at the cave entrance, hands on his hips, looking like he was there to settle scores. He seemed furious; his hair was a mess, and his belt was tangled around his waist.
The King of Intimacy's face showed a hint of wariness: "Kid, you came alone?"
“Just me,” Miaolian retorted. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
The King of Confidence laughed heartily: "Yes, that's right. There's no need for all those roundabout ways. It's just the three of us here, making a simple transaction."
"Give me a piece of your flesh in exchange for her life?"
"That's right."
"No change."
"?"
Jiang Huaisu desperately tried to signal to Miaolian with her eyes: Don't be stubborn at a time like this!
The large pot was bubbling and steaming behind her, and she was being held in the hands of the "King of Understanding," feeling a sense of panic that she was about to be thrown in as food at any moment.
Miaolian lifted the curtain-like spiderweb and ducked into the hole. Like a visiting guest, he looked around with a scrutinizing expression.
He pointed to the pot: "Used to cook me?"
The King of Understanding waved his hand: "I only want a piece of your flesh, not your life. Why make things so unpleasant? You can cut off any finger you like, and I'll give you back the bird right away."
"Get lost. I won't give you a single finger, not even a single hair."
The vein on the King of Hearts' forehead throbbed, but thinking of the divine flesh so close at hand, he decided to be a little more patient:
"This is not the time for angry words. You came here alone to save the little bird, didn't you? Don't put the cart before the horse and lose her life." The veiled threat in the King of Hearts' words was quite obvious.
"No." A short sword slid out from Miaolian's sleeve. "I'm not here to save her, I'm here to kill you."
Miaolian's words extinguished the last shred of possibility for this "deal," and she was unwilling to even pretend, directly tearing off the pretense of civility.
The sword tip sliced through the air, leaving a trail of light. It was clearly not ordinary sword energy; it was infused with spiritual power. To say it could cut through iron like mud would be an understatement.
The killing intent was directed straight at the King of Hearts, who quickly flipped over and leaped up to avoid the sword strike.
"With my five hundred years of cultivation, you won't come out on top even if we really fight!"
"Let's fight first and talk about it later."
Jiang Huaisu swung back and forth on the sleeve of the King of Hearts, but was held up by spider silk so she wouldn't actually fall. She was dizzy from the jolting, but she still had to keep her composure and observe the situation, watching with great difficulty as Miaolian's short sword narrowly missed her several times.
The narrow cave made movement difficult, and the flying pebbles and dust further reduced visibility in the already dim cave. Jiang Huaisu tried her best to open her eyes wide but couldn't see anything more until the King of Hearts was forced out of the cave by Miaolian, at which point her view suddenly opened up.
The King of Hearts was breathing rapidly and urgently, his demonic aura surging. She smelled a strong stench of blood in his sleeve, guessing that he must have been injured in the fight just now.
Miao Lian also had a bloodstain on his face. Blood beads rolled down the wound. He wiped it casually, and the red marks spread across his fair face. They didn't look like bloodstains, but rather like pomegranate juice that a child hadn't finished swallowing, emitting a strange fragrance.
After a two-second silence, the two sides clashed again.
This time, the King of Hearts fought much more swiftly, as if he had been provoked.
Jiang Huaisu was terrified as she watched Miaolian's short sword slash at her face several times, as if she had no mercy. As long as the King of Zhixin was dead, it didn't matter whether she lived or died.
The fight lasted for half an hour. King Zhixin gradually lost ground. With a thought, he suddenly reverted to his original form and shrank behind Jiang Huaisu.
Using such a dishonorable tactic, he still spewed trash talk: "Come on, if you want to kill me, step over her corpse first!"
Jiang Huaisu: "...I don't think this is good."
The King of Hearts ignored her and continued his verbal attack on Miaolian: "No wonder she wants to leave you if you don't care about your companion's life!"
Jiang Huaisu: "I didn't!"
“Now that things have come to this, I won’t hide it from you anymore.” The King of Intimacy hopped around, dodging the sword energy. “Actually, this little bird is the mastermind, and I’m just an accomplice.”
Jiang Huaisu was shocked by his shamelessness and quickly defended herself:
"Pah! It was clearly you who tried to conspire with me to harm someone, and when I firmly refused, you became enraged and kidnapped me as a hostage. Miaolian, don't believe his nonsense. He must be no match for you, so he's just spouting nonsense to try and sow discord between us."
"You two still need to sow discord? Your relationship is already this bad." The King of Confidants feigned surprise. "Little Bird, didn't you realize that he really doesn't care whether you live or die?"
"No, he's just cold on the outside but warm on the inside."
Even Jiang Huaisu herself didn't believe these words, but what could she do? She could only try to say nice things to Miaolian, hoping to awaken the few remaining traces of conscience in this woman.
We've known each other for a while, so don't actually kill her.
"Alright, stop pretending. Since your life can't threaten him, our original plan has pretty much failed. As the leader, why don't you hurry up and join the battle to lend me a hand?"
That old bastard, the King of Hearts, still hasn't given up on smearing her. Perhaps feeling that covering her mouth now would be a futile attempt to hide the truth, he chose to confront her directly, each sticking to their own version of events, to see who Miaolian would believe.
Jiang Huaisu realized that this cunning spider had probably planned this from the beginning, intending to shift the blame onto her regardless of whether things succeeded or not, thus reducing the possibility of Nezha seeking revenge in the future.
She argued with him for a long time, only to find that Miaolian had already stopped attacking and was standing to the side, watching them with a sinister look.
She was already feeling uncertain when she saw Miaolian's expression, and immediately sensed something was terribly wrong. Could it be that they really didn't even have that much trust between them?
But having said everything she needed to say, all she could manage to utter was, "You have to believe me."
The sound of waves crashing against the rocks could be heard intermittently, making fighting here extremely dangerous. A moment's carelessness could send one tumbling off the cliff and swallowed by the turbulent sea.
Amidst the rising and falling tides, she and Miaolian gazed at each other silently for a long while. Unfortunately, she couldn't read minds, and she truly couldn't discern his thoughts.
However, judging from the incident where she scared Master Zhen, Miao Lian's requirement for her is that she must stand on her side unconditionally.
She gets angry even when there's a difference in their stance and attitude; how could she possibly tolerate her betrayal?
"Miaolian..." She was at a loss for words.
A sense of powerlessness rose in her heart; she didn't know how much hope those excuses could save her.
The situation is extremely dangerous. She is being controlled by spider silk and standing on the edge of a cliff. The King of Understanding is hiding behind her wings, seemingly intending to jump off the cliff with her as a shield.
In truth, even the King of Hearts himself wasn't sure if his words had worked. His intention was to shift the blame onto Jiang Huaisu. Even if that didn't work, it would at least throw Miaolian into a moment of confusion, creating an opportunity for him to counterattack.
And now, Miaolian has indeed stopped her attack. The King of Intent keenly sensed that he didn't seem to care about Jiang Huaisu as much as he appeared on the surface; otherwise, why would he be swayed by those words?
The King of Insight quickly devised the next strategy.
He wanted to throw Jiang Huaisu off the cliff.
If Miaolian jumps down to save her, he will seize the opportunity to attack, exploit Miaolian's weakness, and win by snatching a bite of the immortal flesh.
If Miao Lian remained unmoved, he would immediately follow Jiang Huaisu. But death was impossible; he merely intended to use jumping off a cliff as a pretext for suicide. His spider form was so small that he could easily hook onto any protruding cliff face and secure his survival.
No matter how much he planned, he hadn't anticipated that just as he was leading Jiang Huaisu half a step with the spider silk, Miaolian's short sword would fly out of his hand, piercing through Jiang Huaisu's wings with unstoppable force, and pinning him to the cliff face while he was hiding behind her.
King Zhixin had not anticipated that things would unfold this way; all his calculations proved futile against Miaolian's unreasonable and violent actions. That sword strike was merciless, seemingly solely for the purpose of venting his anger.
Logically, Miaolian shouldn't be able to see his exact location, so her aim shouldn't be so good. It's more likely she's targeting Jiang Huaisu; the King of Hearts believes he was just unlucky to be implicated.
Most of the feathers on Jiang Huaisu's chest were stained red with blood from her wound. She was unsure if her bones were broken, so she could only concentrate her spiritual energy to stop the bleeding and prevent the injury from getting worse.
The King of Hearts fared even worse, almost being sliced in two by the sword's force.
Severely injured, his demonic energy became unbalanced, causing the spider silk binding Jiang Huaisu to lose control. Unfortunately, Jiang Huaisu was also in poor condition and unable to flap her wings and escape the place.
The wound was so painful that she couldn't speak.
She's come full circle. It was the same way back then; an arrow pierced her wing, robbing her of her freedom and forcing her to stay in this small town for three years.
Even the murderer is the same person, as if trapped in some kind of cycle.
Jiang Huaisu genuinely felt that meeting Miaolian was her misfortune. What kind of transmigrator is so unlucky? Falling into the same trap twice.
Forced by the pain, she shed two physiological tears. Through her blurred vision, she saw Miaolian walking towards her.
The waves roared below, and the sea breeze whistled in her ears. She suddenly realized that this was the perfect opportunity to leave Miaolian.
She flapped her wings like a thirsty fish, rolled twice on the edge of the cliff, and plunged headfirst into the sea.
As they descended rapidly, their vision became increasingly blurry. Miaolian seemed to be peeking out from the edge of the cliff, calling her name loudly.
Just then, in order to break free from the short sword pinned to his body, King Zhixin had to use magic to transform back into human form and try to escape with his last breath. However, he missed the opportunity and happened to block Miaolian, who was trying to jump off the cliff.
Jiang Huaisu had no idea what happened next.
She had only been in the sea for a short time when a rapid wave knocked her unconscious. In her last moments before losing consciousness, she clung to the nearest floating object.
But how much can a soaked tree branch do? It can only support her for a moment in the giant waves.
She regretted her impulsiveness; this time, things were likely to go wrong.
I hope that when I open my eyes again, I won't be in the underworld.
A note from the author:
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