Tang Ning's voice was like a bucket of ice water poured onto a red-hot iron plate, causing the three people, who were already on the verge of exploding with tension, to completely calm down. Not only that, but they were also made to feel colder and colder by this bucket of water...
They all turned their heads in unison to look at Tang Ning, who was standing at the corner.
She was wearing the white cloak that Yan Xingzhi had prepared for her after her medicinal bath. Part of her long, flowing black hair was tied up on the right side with a white jade hairpin, while the rest of her hair was draped over the pure white cloak. Her pupils were black, and her face, including her lips, was so white that it was almost transparent. At first glance, her entire body was only decorated with black and white.
The wind was extremely strong in the afternoon, so strong that it directly blew the hair by her ears, the hem of her flowing skirt, and even the mimosa tree in full bloom above her head. The branches swayed, and soon a few pink and white petals fell to her temples, adding to her fragile and delicate appearance.
This caused Yan Xingzhi's face to turn slightly pale upon seeing her, and Fang Yunyang slowly released his grip on Yan Xingzhi's clothes, looking at her with some disbelief.
Only Ye Xiao's expression was slightly better, perhaps because his overly simple mind hadn't quite grasped what the other two were saying. When he saw Tang Ning, a hint of surprise even flashed in his eyes. But perhaps because he felt that the expressions on Tang Ning and Yan Xingzhi's faces were a little off, his originally cheerful call turned into a hesitant "Tang Tang" when it came to his lips.
Even after hearing Ye Xiao's call, Tang Ning did not respond. She simply walked out from around the corner with a faint smile on her face. However, this smile was not as sweet and gentle as any of her previous smiles. Instead, it carried a hint of mockery and indifference.
It has to be admitted that Yan Xingzhi's carefully prepared medicinal bath was quite effective. Not long after she finished soaking, she was able to see a blurry figure in the light, and the figure was becoming clearer and clearer.
"Why aren't you answering? I'm asking you what you're saying."
Tang Ning's eyes revealed the purest curiosity, as if she were truly asking out of doubt.
Seeing that the three of them were just looking at her without answering, Tang Ning took two more steps forward and stood under the eaves, smiling brightly as she said, "Heh, shouldn't you explain things to me properly..."
Before she could finish speaking, Tang Ning's smile vanished instantly. "What is the 'Thread-Pulling Gu'? How do you cure it? Who does it cure? What kind of poison is it? And who is the person I make love with every night in that pitch-black room?"
Tang Ning stared intently at Yan Xingzhi, who was furthest away from her, and asked the question, word by word.
The more questions were asked, the redder Tang Ning's eyes became, but even with them so red, she didn't shed a single tear.
On the other side, Yan Xingzhi, seeing her like this, did not look away, but his hands hanging at his sides were already clenched into fists, and his knuckles had turned white from the force.
The two stared at each other for a long time. Suddenly, Tang Ning chuckled softly, and with that chuckle, the tears that had been welling up in her eyes burst forth.
She scrutinized the three men in front of her once more before smiling gently and saying, "Isn't anyone willing to explain this to me?"
Without even giving the three a chance to answer, she said directly, "Is that so? Then let me try to guess what's going on myself. Let's start from..."
Her slender white fingers gestured over the three people in front of her, finally landing on Fang Yunyang. "Brother Yunyang, let's begin."
Upon hearing such a familiar address, Fang Yunyang stared wide-eyed in disbelief, while Yan Xingzhi bit his tongue hard until the pain and the taste of blood spread in his mouth, finally calming down as quickly as possible.
At this moment, Tang Ning looked at Fang Yunyang's shocked expression and couldn't help but giggle, "What's wrong? Do you find it strange that I suddenly remembered you? Then does that mean there are any restrictions on this so-called Thread-Pulling Gu? It can't be that it will only be completely removed when I'm about to die, right? That would be really interesting."
"I clearly remember that we were about to get married, but on our wedding day, this Master Yan put a 'thread-binding curse' on me, making me fall completely in love with him. I guess this so-called 'thread-binding curse' has requirements for it to work, such as I must have fallen in love with you before it will really work. That's why you were so attentive to me in Lanzhou City. It's really a pity that Master Yan had to suppress his disgust and disdain and pretend to be nice to me."
As soon as she finished speaking, she looked at Yan Xingzhi's face, which had suddenly lost all color, and continued to press on.
"And you, our hero Fang, just because you felt guilty towards Yan Xingzhi for the massacre of the Ye family thirteen years ago, you willingly gave your wife to another man on your wedding day!"
"Clap clap clap!"
At this point, Tang Ning clapped her hands and said, "In the past, Kong Rong shared pears with others, and now Yun Yang shares his wife with others. Hero Fang is truly a benevolent, virtuous, selfless, compassionate, and merciful bodhisattva who saves people from suffering. I am so moved that I almost cried."
Tang Ning wiped away a tear with her index finger, then, ignoring Fang Yunyang's miserable face, turned to look at Yan Xingzhi behind him. "If Master Fang is a compassionate god reincarnated from heaven, then our Master Yan is even more generous and magnanimous. He's even willing to let another man sleep with his newlywed wife, and to make sure I didn't find out, he specially chose such a dark house. Tsk, what a painstaking effort!"
"Let me guess when you started plotting against me? If my memory serves me right, when we first met, because of Miss Huo's presence, even though I had just left the valley and hadn't met many people, I could still sense your coldness towards me. Until... you learned about my Frost Jade Body, ah..."
She gave a look of sudden realization. "Is it because only the Frost Jade Body can cure Ye Xiao's poison? Is that why you started treating me better after that? But wait, if it were that simple, you could have just given me some medicine. Why did you have to go through all that trouble yourself? You don't expect me to do it willingly, do you? But what does it take to be willing to cure poison? As long as that kind of thing happens, that's enough, unless..."
She had barely finished speaking when Yan Xingzhi began to tremble slightly. The wounds on his fingertips, which had been worn raw at the foot of the cliff and had not yet fully healed, reopened under his force, and bright red blood dripped down from between his fingers, drop by drop, into the soil beside him, leaving a dark stain.
But Tang Ning completely ignored his pain and continued, "Unless it's not an antidote, but a way to transfer the poison."
"I've heard my master mention this method before. It involves transferring the poison from another person to oneself through intercourse, taking the effects of the poison on their behalf, and dying on their behalf. I knew it! With my constitution, how could a poison dart from that pursuer from the Silent Moon Sect possibly poison me, especially with such a poison that I can't detect at all? So that's why you took me to Ye Xiao's medicinal bath as soon as you came back."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ye Xiao turned around in disbelief to look at Yan Xingzhi, whose face was deathly pale.
"Brother Yan, Tangtang, she..."
He was about to speak when Tang Ning interrupted him again, a hint of confusion on her face. "But that's not right. You did such a shameless thing, and judging from Ye Xiao's appearance, the poison in his body is almost completely neutralized. I shouldn't be of any use anymore. I can pretty much guess why you specifically brought me, someone who knows absolutely no martial arts, to Ghost Howling Cliff. It was probably to... kill me in the chaos. But why did you suddenly bring me back to Yangyue Manor? Could it be..."
"Could it be that after you did all these despicable things, you saw me jump off the cliff with you, saw what happened between us when we were kids, and saw how I lured away the pursuers from the Silent Moon Sect for you—all these things show your deep affection and unwavering devotion—and suddenly found yourself moved, even touched, so you brought me back to cure the poison in my body, and then continued to be your wife, kept in the dark?"
After saying this with a look of surprise, Tang Ning covered her lips with her fingers and chuckled softly.
"Hahaha, hahahahahahaha..."
The louder she laughed, the more violently her body swayed. Tears streamed down her face as if they were worthless, falling in torrents until her entire face was covered in tear tracks. Yet the tears continued to flow uncontrollably, as if she wanted to cry them all out at once. Then—
"puff--"
Having been overstimulated and thus released from the entanglement curse, she endured for a long time before finally unable to hold back and spitting out a mouthful of blood. The blood splattered on her white skirt like specks of red plum blossoms falling on the snow.
"Tangtang!"
“Ningning…”
Seeing her like this, Ye Xiao and Fang Yunyang called out to her in alarm. Yan Xingzhi, who was the furthest away, was the first to move and quickly came to a place only a few steps away from her.
"Don't come near me..."
Holding onto a pillar, Tang Ning wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and immediately said this in a hoarse voice.
All those sharp and intense questions were nothing more than the most irreconcilable, yet most hurtful and painful, retaliation from someone who is usually gentle and mild-mannered and doesn't even have much of a temper, after being bullied to the extreme.
She may appear gentle on the outside, but she was a girl who, despite the despair and pain of losing her family as a child, could still suppress all her sorrow and stubbornly deal with the Eastern Depot's henchmen who were hunting her for so many days. She was fierce to the core.
Furthermore, do you really think she couldn't tell what kind of poison was on the poisoned darts of the Silent Moon Cult pursuers below the cliff? How could she be so completely unable to identify them...?
The last breath she had been holding onto was released along with the blood as soon as she finished her questioning.
Soon, she was like a lost soul who had instantly lost all her energy. Her eyes were unfocused as she shook her head and slowly backed away. At the same time, her right hand touched the dagger in her sleeve, as if she had grabbed her only spiritual support. She held on tightly with all her might until her back hit the wall behind her.
It was at this moment that a sudden change occurred.
Suddenly, a black figure leaped down from the eaves above Tang Ning's head and reached out to grab her.
Just as he made his move, Yan Xingzhi, who was closest to Tang Ning, saw this scene. Before Ye Xiao and Fang Yunyang could react, he almost teleported to Tang Ning's side, grabbed her waist, and exchanged a palm strike with the man in black in front of him. Before he could finish speaking, he felt a pain in his abdomen.
Yan Xingzhi looked down and saw Tang Ning's slender white hand holding a dagger, which was deeply plunged into his abdomen.
The dagger was one he had bought for Tang Ning in the small town. In the cave, she had even used it to cut her arm and feed him her blood. Because they had rushed back, the dagger still bore traces of Tang Ning's own blood, and now…
Yan Xingzhi looked up in a daze and saw Tang Ning staring at him blankly with red eyes. In the blink of an eye, large tears fell from her eyes.
"Don't touch me, it's disgusting..."
After uttering those five words in a trembling voice, she pulled the dagger from Yan Xingzhi's abdomen, leaving it covered in blood.
It was this momentary delay that allowed the man in black, who had been knocked back by Yan Xingzhi's palm strike, to seize the opportunity and snatch Tang Ning from the injured Yan Xingzhi's grasp. He then rushed out without stopping.
"Tang Ning..."
Just as Yan Xingzhi, clutching his lower abdomen, was about to struggle forward, a large number of men in black immediately jumped down from the surrounding rooftops. Knowing that these people were most likely from the Jiyue Sect and might have been lying in ambush near Yangyue Manor for a long time, Yan Xingzhi dealt with the endless stream of black-clad assassins while keeping his eyes fixed on Tang Ning's receding figure. He watched the man in black carrying Tang Ning, and with just one bump, the mutton-fat jade hairpin that had been firmly inserted in her temple suddenly slipped out of her hair.
*Smack*
It's broken...
"Tangtang..."
"Brother Yan!"
Ye Xiao was torn between two options, and in just a moment of hesitation, the swarming men in black blocked his path.
Fang Yunyang, on the other hand, went straight for the man in black who had taken Tang Ning away.
However, he was just a minor figure in the Jiyue Sect, so how could he possibly compare to Fang Yunyang's lightness skill? In just a few moments, he had already been caught up by Fang Yunyang.
The two immediately began fighting in the woods.
Although the man in black was not skilled in martial arts, he held Tang Ning as a hostage. After testing him a few times, he found that Fang Yunyang was somewhat restrained whenever he faced Tang Ning. The man's eyes hardened, and he began to use Tang Ning to block attacks for himself without hesitation. He even used his knife to cut bloody marks on Fang Yunyang's body.
Seeing Fang Yunyang get hurt again and again because of her, Tang Ning frowned slightly. Just as the man in black was about to use her again and struck Fang Yunyang's heart with a palm, she seemed to think of something, her eyes flashed, and she silently lunged at him, causing the man in black's palm to strike the back of her head.
"Hmm!"
With a muffled groan, Tang Ning slumped softly into Yun Yang's arms in front of her, losing consciousness.
"Ningning!"
Seeing this, Fang Yunyang quickly called out to her, then hugged her and endured the blow the man in black struck at his back. With a slight flick of his wrist, he stabbed the man in the heart with his sword. After hearing the sound of the man falling to the ground, Fang Yunyang pulled the sword back abruptly, his face pale, and hugged the unconscious Tang Ning tightly in his arms.
"Ningning, Ningning, Ningning..."
"It'll be alright, it'll be alright, everything will be fine..."
He stumbled and carried Tang Ning along a small path, his blood staining the entire way. Finally, around dusk, he found a small mountain village with smoke rising from its chimneys. As soon as he relaxed, a sharp pain struck, and Fang Yunyang lost control and knelt on one knee. His vision went black, and he fainted.
——
On early summer mornings, the sky always brightens so early. A thin layer of mist still shrouds the distant mountains, while the nearby villages gradually awaken, and even the cicadas in the trees begin to chirp loudly.
Sunlight streamed through the shattered window and fell on Tang Ning's face as she lay on the bed. She fluttered her eyelashes and slowly opened her eyes, taking in the completely unfamiliar world before her. A hint of confusion flashed in Tang Ning's eyes.
Lifting the slightly damp blanket, Tang Ning glanced at the earthen walls around her and the overly simple furnishings inside the room, her doubts deepening. Hearing what sounded like people talking outside, she quickly stepped out.
At this moment, Fang Yunyang, who was standing at the door and had just received the chicken soup that the family where he and Tang Ning were temporarily staying had cooked for him, looked at the kind-faced old woman in front of him and was about to thank her when he heard the door behind him creak open and someone pushed it open from the inside.
He turned his head abruptly, and before the look of surprise on his face could even show, he saw Tang Ning, whose face was still a little pale, leaning against the door and looking at him with a somewhat bewildered expression.
"rather……"
He had barely uttered a word when he saw Tang Ning give him a shy nod and smile, "You... hello, may I ask where this is? How did I end up here? And..."
"Who are you?"
Tang Ning asked this question with a puzzled look in her eyes.
Upon hearing this, Fang Yunyang's eyes widened in disbelief. Then, seeing the completely serene look on Tang Ning's face, her smile so pure and clean, devoid of resentment or pain, an unbelievable thought slowly rose in his mind.
The old doctor he had previously consulted to take her pulse had said that there was a blood clot in her brain, so he was told to be prepared. She might wake up the next day, or she might never wake up in her life. Fang Yunyang, who had been guarding the unconscious Tang Ning in this small mountain village for three days, was already mentally prepared. He was just waiting for her injuries to heal a little before taking her back to Kongming Mountain.
For the rest of his life, whether she is in a coma or awake, he will always stay by her side; this is what he owes her.
But unexpectedly, only three days later, she had already woken up, and even... even...
Thump, thump, thump.
His heart pounded violently at that moment, and he stared intently into Tang Ning's eyes, moving his lips several times.
"I am Fang Yunyang of the Kongshan Sect..."
He finally spoke, word by word, under Tang Ning's gaze.
The next second, Tang Ning showed the same surprised expression as when the two first met.
"Brother Yunyang, it's me, Tang Ning, the Tang Ning from Medicine God Valley who was engaged to you. I've come out of the valley to find you..."
Same expression, same words.
Fang Yunyang was instantly transported back to the day they first met, a time when it was just the two of them, without Yan Xingzhi, Ye Xiao, his wrong decisions, or any of the unbearable things that had happened. She had just come from Medicine God Valley to fulfill her marriage vows with him, and her eyes and heart held only him.
He stared blankly into Tang Ning's dark eyes, somewhat unable to believe that something he only experienced in his dreams had actually happened in reality.
Tang Ning forgot everything that happened to her after she left the valley, forgot Yan Xingzhi and Ye Xiao, forgot everything.
Snap—
His hand slipped, and the bowl of chicken soup he had just ladled out slipped from his grasp, shattering into pieces. The soup splattered all over Fang Yunyang's feet, but he seemed completely oblivious to the pain. He stepped over the broken shards and rushed to Tang Ning, pulling the worried Tang Ning, who was concerned about him getting burned, into his arms. The tighter he held her, the more his arms trembled.
"Tang Ning..."
"……Um."
"Tang Ning".
"It's me."
"Tang Ning, Tang Ning, Ning Ning..."
Fang Yunyang kept calling her name repeatedly, which made Tang Ning a little confused.
While Tang Ning maintained a blank expression on her face, she inwardly raised her eyebrows high.
Fang Yunyang's current favorability rating: 96.
The happiest thing in the world is to lose something and then get it back, while the most painful thing is to lose something and then have it snatched away again before you can even enjoy it.
Based on her understanding of Gou Yan, he would definitely find them in the small mountain village within half a month to ten days!
Ten days, for her
That's enough.
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