Chapter Forty-Nine Fierce Battle
The night was still and deep, and the copper bells on the eaves rang out softly in the night breeze. Mu Lian lightly touched the glazed tiles on the roof with her toes, her black cloak fluttering behind her. The silver and gold inlaid belt buckle at her waist struck the butterfly-shaped iron caltrops hidden in her sleeves, producing a subtle and crisp sound.
"My lord, there are still hawks and hounds in the southwest corner..." Suddenly, Meng Yuan lowered her voice, her slender fingers gripping three bone-piercing nails. In the distance, a cold light could be faintly seen gleaming on the eaves, the unique black iron eagle-beak arrowheads of the Judicial Office. They must have been left behind during the fierce battle just now.
Beneath the silver mask, Mu Lian's eyes narrowed slightly, and she suddenly flicked her sleeve, tossing an object into the air. The object emitted a dragon's roar as it flew through the air, and the carved Yazi beast head at its end gleamed with an eerie blue light in the moonlight. Almost simultaneously, a muffled groan came from the southwest corner, the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground startling the crows perched in the locust tree, which then fluttered away in disarray.
“Walk through the water corridor…” Mu Lian caught the tourmaline hairpin that Meng Yuan threw back, her fingertips caressing the butterfly and flower pattern on the end of the hairpin. This was a trophy she obtained several years ago when she was cracking down on corrupt officials in the court. It was a gift from the Empress herself, and the hairpin contained seven hair-like needles that had been treated with arsenic. It was indeed a beautiful and unparalleled killing weapon.
The two darted across the triple eaves like owls, landing on the winding water corridor in the backyard of Drunken Spring Mountain. The koi carp scattered in fright, shattering the cold moonlight in the pond. Mu Lian suddenly stopped, the bright moon earrings adorning her earlobes gleaming with a ghostly blue light—a poison sensor made from the tears of mermaids from the South China Sea.
"My lord?" Meng Yuan gripped the hilt of her sword warily.
"What a elaborate scheme..." Mu Lian sneered, tearing off her cloak and tossing it into the water. The moment the dark brocade touched the water, wisps of blue smoke rose, scorching the koi swimming nearby, causing them to turn belly-up. Then, with a flick of her slender hand, golden needles hidden in her sleeve rained down on the carved pillars. In an instant, wood chips flew everywhere, several dark figures fell to the ground with thuds, and the Gu worms hidden within the lotus patterns of the sandalwood emitted a sharp hiss.
not good!
Meng Yuan quickly retreated two steps, only to see Mu Lian advance instead, forming a lotus seal in front of her chest with her fingertips. The blood-stained golden needle was pulled back by a suction force, condensing into an octagonal array in mid-air, drawing all the remnants of the venomous Gu from the Gu slave's body into the array's core.
“This Mother-Child Linked Heart Gu, the child Gu can sense the location of the mother Gu…” Mu Lian sighed, gently picking up the blackened gold needle. Before she finished speaking, phosphorescent lights suddenly appeared at the end of the water corridor. Twelve white bone lanterns floated in, each lantern shade made of human skin and painted with cinnabar talismans. The lantern bearers were all dressed in white mourning clothes, their faces covered with mourning paper, and their feet did not touch the ground when they walked; they were the soul guides from the Miao region of the Southern Barbarians.
"Lord Mu, what skill you have..." The leader's voice was neither male nor female, and the paper mask flickered in and out of the phosphorescent light. The person was dressed in a five-colored tattered robe with fringes, with braided hair and black fingers and nails. He was none other than the Southern Barbarian sorcerer that the group had first met when they arrived in Luo City.
"It's a pity you can break the Seven Star Soul-Locking Array, but you can't untie this Yama's Life and Death Game..." The man's mournful and eerie voice drifted through the night sky, chilling and terrifying to the bone.
"Heh..." Mu Lian sneered, offering no reply. She simply pulled out a black jade hairpin and held it to her lips, her slender fingers swiftly tapping it, releasing a strange melody. The hollow cavity within the hairpin vibrated, its fragrant liquid rippling, and the sound instantly caused the pond in the courtyard to boil. Meng Yuan nodded in understanding, using the tip of her sword to pierce the brocade pouch at her waist. A shower of vermilion powder condensed with the sound waves, forming a crimson vortex that engulfed all twelve white bone lanterns. In an instant, the paper masks shattered in the vermilion storm, revealing hideous faces covered in Gu worms.
"You, you actually know the lost 'Poison Feather Tune'..." The leading soul guide roared angrily, retreating hastily, while the others all spurted black blood from their seven orifices. Amidst the blood lines filling the sky, the Gu worms, smelling the cinnabar, turned against their masters, devouring their respective hosts clean in the blink of an eye, leaving only bare white bones.
That's right, our Chief Justice Mu naturally knows more! Meng Yuan, watching from the sidelines, felt incredibly proud.
Suddenly, a whooshing sound came from above. The two looked up and saw a net of eighteen bone-piercing nails descending upon them. Meng Yuan swiftly spun around, swinging her sword to block, but Mu Lian moved with a strange step, switching to a tourmaline hairpin that spun in her palm like a wheel, attracting all eighteen nails. The butterfly and flower patterns on the hairpin's end gradually glowed, and the peacock gall poison at the nail heads gathered along the patterns at the tip of the hairpin, condensing into drops of eerie jade-colored poison.
"Be careful, sir..." Meng Yuan suddenly exclaimed.
Suddenly, a bare-chested, burly man leaped out of the pool, his body covered in tattoos of a hundred poisonous creatures, each hand wielding a poisoned hook. Without turning her head, Mu Lian flicked the jade-green poison behind her. The venom ignited upon contact with the wind, transforming into a vibrant blue fire phoenix that swooped down on the man's face. The man screamed in agony, collapsing moments later, burned to a crisp in the raging flames.
Night fell silent once more. Glancing back at the fading flames, Mu Lian and Meng Yuan flew away. Time was of the essence; she needed to return quickly to help the soldiers cure their poison.
Behind them, from the pile of white bones, came a creaking sound. No one noticed that the skeleton, suspected to be that of a southern barbarian sorcerer, had once again stood up, trembling.
The government office in Luoyang.
As dawn broke through the clouds, Mu Lian and Meng Yuan had returned safely. Ye Yuqing immediately came to greet them; in the morning light, the man's face, pale from not having slept all night, appeared slightly ashen.
"You're finally back..." Heaven knows how ashamed Ye Yiqing was that night, knowing she had no martial arts skills whatsoever and could only stay obediently in the government office to avoid causing trouble and holding everyone back.
Looking at the man's slightly disheveled hair and haggard expression, Mu Lian's gaze softened unconsciously: "Thank you for your concern, Lord Ye. We are fine." Without saying more, she and Meng Yuan entered the tent.
Inside the tent, the accompanying military medic had been waiting for some time. Mu Lian took out a sandalwood box, bit her fingertip to draw a blood talisman on yellow paper, then dripped a drop of fragrant liquid from the black jade hairpin onto it, before placing the mother Gu on it. Suddenly, the mother Gu began to struggle violently, and soon turned into a pool of blood. She instructed the accompanying military medic to decoct the blood with medicine and have the soldiers drink it. Only then did Mu Lian breathe a slight sigh of relief. Her mind raced with the events that had begun at Liu Zhang's villa, and she sighed inwardly, realizing that the waters of Luo City were indeed far more treacherous than she had imagined.
Outside the tent, Ye Yiqing had been waiting for some time. As soon as the woman emerged, a thick, plain-colored cloak was offered to her, still clearly imbued with the man's unique cedar scent and body heat. Mu Lian paused, then took the cloak from the man's hand: "Thank you, Lord Ye..."
Ye Yuqing's heart, which had been hanging in suspense for so long, eased slightly. She looked up at the woman with tender eyes. In the dim morning light, the silver mask on the woman's face gleamed with a cool light, while her bright eyes were deep and reflected the man's handsome and unparalleled face.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com