Chapter 34
Pei Yun was amused even more by her "humbly seeking advice" attitude. He relaxed and leaned back on the cushion, his fingertips still twirling her hair, and slowly said, "Naturally... it went into my national treasury."
"Oh?" Xi Xiao's eyes flashed with a sharp, icy light as she pierced him. Her voice suddenly rose, carrying a scathing sarcasm. "So, it's fattening His Majesty's private treasury?!"
Seeing her like a cat with its fur standing on end, Pei Yun finally dropped his teasing tone, sighed softly, and his expression turned unusually solemn.
He released her hair, then grasped her cold hand with his warm one, his gaze deep: "Strong military, prosperous nation, defense against foreign aggression, and peace on all sides—which of these doesn't require real money? What I accept today, even if I am unwilling, is taken from this source and will be used for this purpose. This is like cutting flesh to heal a wound, just to get through the current predicament and to bring about a day of peace and prosperity for all people!"
Xi Xiao stared at him, at the grand yet cold blueprint in his eyes, and an indescribable, immense sorrow welled up in her heart. She forcefully pulled her hand back, her voice low and hoarse, carrying a deep-seated weariness and despair.
“'The future' is too far away, I just want to be free today.”
Pei Yun remained silent for a moment, his eyes as deep as the night. He reached out again and pulled her back into his arms, his chin resting on the top of her head, his voice low and sighing, "I...can't do it now."
Xi Xiao nestled quietly in Pei Yun's arms, her thick eyelashes lowered, concealing the turbulent undercurrent in her eyes. That hidden sorrow instantly solidified into a ruthless and resolute expression.
She quickly glanced through the gap in the curtain. The carriage was traveling along a narrow mountain road. To the left was a deep and dense bamboo forest, and to the right was a bottomless cliff. Her brow furrowed. There was a row of Hakone grass growing on the edge of the precipitous cliff, swaying its lush green in the biting cold wind, like a spring ghost that had wandered into the dead of winter.
Her heart was filled with turmoil, yet the voice that came out was as gentle as a spring stream, carrying a perfectly appropriate hint of dependence: "Pei Yun, it's stuffy in the car, I want to go out for some fresh air."
Pei Yun lowered his eyes, gazing at her rare docile demeanor, and felt a surge of joy in his heart. Without hesitation, he ordered, "Rest where you are."
The envoys from the vassal kings exchanged bewildered glances, wondering how long they had been gone. But when they caught sight of the slender figure veiled in mist, they exchanged knowing, mocking looks, dispersed in twos and threes, and began to gnaw on their cold, hard rations.
"Brother Tang, why are you dawdling like a woman? Did that foreign woman keep bothering you until your legs went weak last night?" an envoy teased Tang Xiangxian, who was slumped to the side.
Tang Xiangxian's face was ashen, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, his limbs were as weak as overcooked noodles, and he had a tightness in his chest that he could not exhale properly. He could only weakly wave his hand.
Seeing this, the other envoys laughed even harder: "Haha, didn't Brother Tang boast before that he could sleep with seven or eight women in one night? You've already given up after just one? Your boast has been exposed!"
Several people sat in the distance, laughing together. One of the envoys, with a pointed chin, saw that Tang Xiangxian ignored them and sneered, "I think he's just here to kill time. Their King Wu is about to die, and finding the descendants of the Wu tribe should be the top priority, but he's acting like he's on a sightseeing trip!"
Another envoy with sunken cheeks immediately chimed in: "That's right. Maybe it was sent by some prince to just get by. If we really find them, even if King Wu lives for another thousand years, what use will they be? It's better if we don't find them. We can just wait until King Wu kicks the bucket and then come back to mess around with these things."
The group sat around, their arguments growing increasingly convincing, spittle flying everywhere, completely unaware that the surrounding air had silently frozen, becoming eerily silent. A faint, chilling hissing sound, like countless venomous snakes crawling on withered leaves, was quietly gathering from all directions, only to be muffled by the howling mountain wind, appearing intermittently.
A group of people quietly arrived not far away.
"Your Highness, ahead... it looks like the Emperor's entourage?" Ling Zhouling's trusted aide pointed to the figures that were faintly visible at the edge of the bamboo forest.
Ling Zhouling glanced at it casually, his interest waning: "What does it have to do with us to search for those damned descendants of the witch clan?" He disgustedly covered his mouth and nose with a scented silk handkerchief and urged, "Hurry up, this coffin is stinking, send it back to the capital as soon as possible!"
Before he could finish speaking—
"Pfft!"
A chilling explosion suddenly rang out!
Everyone stared in horror as Tang Xiangxian, who had been slumped over just moments before, suddenly exploded like a ripe fruit. Amidst the flying blood and flesh, countless dense, black and red, writhing, hideous Gu worms surged forth from his ruptured chest and abdomen like a burst dam. They moved with incredible speed, their bloodthirsty excitement driving them to madly pounce on the nearest living person.
"ah--!!"
"Insects! Insects!!"
A piercing scream instantly shattered the deathly silence of the mountains!
Ling Zhouling was so shocked that his whole body stiffened. In this hellish scene, he saw the veiled woman suddenly tear off her veil, revealing a pale but breathtakingly beautiful face. It was Xi Xiao.
Her eyes burned with a mad light as she strode toward him!
Before Ling Zhouling could even react, she slammed into him with tremendous force, causing him to stumble. A chilling fragrance mixed with the smell of blood instantly enveloped him. At the same time, from all directions, a dark swarm of Gu worms surged in, instantly surrounding him and her.
Behind him were the desperate wails of the vassal kings and their envoys, and Pei Yun's face contorted with extreme rage.
"Come on!" Xi Xiao's voice shrieked in the wind, carrying a destructive excitement. Her long hair was wildly blown back by the mountain wind, making her lips look blood-red, like a mad banshee. "You want the blood of the Witch Clan?! I'm right here!"
Pei Yun's eyes blazed with a devastating rage. The Gu worms gnawed at his flesh, making a sickening "rustling" sound, but he seemed to feel no pain. He just stared intently at Xi Xiao's crazed eyes. The elite guards around him were desperately wielding their weapons, cutting down swarms of Gu worms, trying to protect him as he walked towards Xi Xiao.
Ling Zhouling was stunned by the sudden change and could not recover for a long time. When Xi Xiao's cold hand gripped his arm tightly and dragged him staggeringly toward the edge of the cliff, he regained a sliver of consciousness. However, he heard Xi Xiao's clear and cold whispers, like the voice of hell, each word piercing his heart.
“This is my ‘accomplice,’ Ling Zhouling, the son of the Regent.”
She met Pei Yun's murderous gaze with a bewitching and provocative smile: "Your Majesty, how can such a 'good thing' of immortality not be shared equally among everyone?!"
These words were like a thunderclap from a clear sky!
Ling Zhouling suddenly turned her head and stared at her in disbelief. The vassal envoys who were still struggling in the Gu insect tide instantly became suspicious and uncertain. Even the guards who were rushing towards Xi Xiao stopped in their tracks. Everyone's eyes were subconsciously turned to the center of the storm - Pei Yun.
Pei Yun's vision was already blurring and blurring with anger. He watched helplessly as Xi Xiao dragged Ling Zhouling closer and closer to the cliff that would devour everything. A feeling he had never experienced before gripped him. He suddenly tore off a piece of his sleeve, lit a tinderbox, and threw it fiercely at the densest part of the swarm of insects.
Boom! Flames erupted!
Taking advantage of this brief opening, he, like a maddened beast trapped in a cage, recklessly smashed through the swarm of insects and guards blocking his way, covered in flames and blood, and rushed straight towards Xi Xiao at the edge of the cliff.
Seeing him charging at her so recklessly, Xi Xiao felt a sharp pain in her chest that made her vision go black. She endured it, her lips moving as she tried to activate her secret technique again to summon the Gu worms, but only a few Gu worms came out. She watched as the Gu worms on the field rapidly decreased under the flames and the light of the blades.
A ruthless glint flashed in her eyes. Without hesitation, she pulled out the silver hairpin from her hair and stabbed it fiercely into Ling Zhouling's arm, causing blood to gush out instantly.
"Give the order!" Her voice was hoarse, like a vengeful ghost, "Stop him! Or we'll all die together!"
The intense pain instantly brought Ling Zhouling to his senses. Without thinking, he roared at the panicked guards, "Stop him!"
The guards snapped out of their daze and, steeling themselves, pounced on Pei Yun, who was acting like a mad tiger.
Pei Yun was blocked, his eyes bloodshot with rage. He stared at Ling Zhouling as if he were looking at a rotting corpse nailed to a coffin, his gaze filled with deep-seated resentment.
Upon seeing this, Xi Xiao's lips curled into an extremely cold smile.
She turned around, used all her strength to grab onto Ling Zhouling, who was struggling in pain, and leaped into the air.
The two figures, like birds with broken wings, vanished instantly into the churning clouds at the edge of the cliff.
"Your Highness—!!" Ling Zhouling's confidant cried out in despair, only to be killed instantly by Pei Yun's secret guards.
Above the cliff, only Pei Yun's heart-wrenching cries, filled with boundless hatred and vicious curses, echoed wildly through the empty valley, lingering for a long time: "Xi Xiao! Don't let me catch you!!!"
A deathly silence descended upon the cliff top, with only the howling mountain wind carrying the lingering stench of blood.
The vassal envoys, who had been struggling and wailing amidst the Gu worms, now lay limp on the ground, as if their souls had been ripped out, still reeling from the shock. The bewilderment and the deep-seated fear were still frozen on their faces, not yet faded.
Some people groaned as they clutched their gnawed wounds, some stared blankly toward the cliff, and others tried to climb toward their horses...
However, this deathly silence after surviving the disaster did not last even a moment.
The silent slaughter began suddenly!
The guards Pei Yun brought were like demons emerging from the underworld, their movements so swift they left only afterimages. Their faces were expressionless as they precisely locked onto each envoy. A flash of cold light followed, the sharp whistling of a blade cutting through the air.
*Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!*
The dull thuds of blades slicing through necks echoed one after another, their muffled sound sending chills down one's spine. One by one, heads were abruptly severed from bodies in a state of bewilderment and extreme terror. The headless bodies, like severed wooden stakes, fell stiffly to the ground, kicking up dust mixed with blood and mud.
The whole process was breathtakingly fast.
In the blink of an eye, the open space on the cliff top was left with only a mess of corpses, a few scattered Gu worms wriggling aimlessly, and an overwhelming, nauseating stench of blood.
Pei Yun stood expressionless in the center of the pool of blood, letting the scalding blood soak his luxurious boots. His gaze passed over this hellish scene and was fixed on the churning clouds below the cliff, as if trying to pierce through the layers of mist and lock onto the figure that had leaped off.
“She was seriously injured and couldn’t have gone far…” Pei Yun’s voice was hoarse and cold. His chilling gaze swept over the lush Hakone grass that was soaked in blood and lying in disarray on the edge of the cliff. His eyes surged with a bloodthirsty red light that was chilling: “The envoys are all dead and all news has been cut off… The vassal king is no fool. He will surely become suspicious.”
He abruptly closed his eyes, his brows etched with deep weariness and a hint of barely perceptible anxiety. His Adam's apple bobbed laboredly before finally settling into a heavy sigh. "I reckon it won't be long before they trace back to today's events and issue an order to the Xuan Yu Guards..."
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