During their fierce battle, Ye Jinxiu sensed an opportunity and kept trying to break free from the rope to regain her freedom.
But after several attempts, Ye Jinxiu discovered in despair that although she had some room to move, she was completely unable to untie the tough rope.
“Damn it!”
*****
Amidst the ashes, the Fang Jian where the spiritual vein transplant was taking place remained completely untouched, like a blot of ink on a sheet of white paper, drawing all eyes.
Lin Huanhuan guessed it must be that Huang Luocheng, worried about any unexpected incidents affecting himself, had set up defensive measures so that nothing inside was affected.
She had originally planned to take everyone and leave first, but just then, the tightly closed Fang Jian door swung open.
“Senior, why do I feel so uncomfortable all over? Is this normal? There’s really nothing wrong, right?”
“Don’t worry, there’s no problem. After all, the spiritual vein inside you now was transplanted from someone else. Some rejection reactions are perfectly normal, nothing to worry about—you’ll get used to it after a while.”
“So that’s it, that’s great. By the way, senior, do you—”
Huang Luocheng and Guiyi Li Jiu walked out while chatting, but when he saw the scene around him, Huang Luocheng couldn’t help but freeze.
Before them lay a field of ruins, as if a massive fire had just swept through. The ground was charred and split, as though they’d crossed into another world.
“Am I caught in an illusion?”
Huang Luocheng’s eyes went wide. Guiyi darted a furtive glance at him, then quickly began to inch away, putting distance between himself and the person about to go berserk.
“It’s you two?!”
Huang Luocheng snapped back to his senses and saw, not far off, Lin Huanhuan and Dong Yuner, who both looked as though they had just finished a battle, and beside them, a corpse burned black.
By now, how could Huang Luocheng not understand? Clearly, Lin Huanhuan had tried to double-cross him, planning to get rid of them and take all the benefits for herself!
“You wretched Lin, why are you doing this to me? I was already willing to work with you, I agreed to all your unreasonable demands, and you still want to kill me? Do you really take me for some pushover?!”
Huang Luocheng screamed in rage, his long blade slowly appearing in his hand, his eyes burning as if they held flames that could devour the world.
Lin Huanhuan sneered, “I wanted to mess you up, so I did. Do I need a reason?”
“People like you, lowborn, have no right to question me. If I want to kill you, you should stick your head out and let me cut it off!”
“You!”
Huang Luocheng was about to curse back when he noticed that Guiyi Li Jiu, who had just been by his side, had somehow already slipped over to stand beside Lin Huanhuan.
Then, under his eyes wide with rage, Guiyi Li Jiu cupped his hands respectfully toward Lin Huanhuan: “Miss Lin, the matter you instructed me to handle is finished. Where is the antidote?”
At those words, Huang Luocheng immediately sensed things were going terribly wrong—Lin Huanhuan had just ambushed his subordinate, and now, the very same Guiyi Li Jiu who had performed the spiritual vein transplant was saying he’d completed Lin Huanhuan’s mission.
Whatever that mission was, it must have been a trap for him!
“You old bastard, what did you do? Tell me right now, or you’re not leaving here alive. I’ll make you pay!”
Guiyi Li Jiu completely ignored him and kept his gaze fixed earnestly on Lin Huanhuan, making Huang Luocheng even angrier.
Lin Huanhuan shook her head. “Since you’re so sincerely curious, I’ll satisfy your curiosity.”
“Guiyi Li Jiu, tell him.”
“Yes.”
With the antidote not yet in hand, Guiyi Li Jiu could only obey: “Young Master Huang, to be honest, what I transplanted into you was not the Nether Spring Spiritual Vein, but just a regular spiritual thread.”
“It’s the same spiritual thread often used to make robes. The reason it looked so mystical just now was because I treated it to make it appear that way.”
“You… you… you replaced my meridian with a common thread? You, you, you!”
Hearing this, Huang Luocheng’s vision went black, and he nearly collapsed.
Even at his most pessimistic, he’d only considered that Guiyi Li Jiu might poison him to cause pain—who could have guessed even the spiritual vein was a fake!
Huang Luocheng gnashed his teeth like a wounded beast. “You old thing, I’ve treated you well! Back then at the Jiu Lou, you couldn’t pay for your drinks and were about to be dragged away to have your arms broken and become a beggar. I stepped in and saved you. When I learned you were capable, I treated you as an honored guest, provided fine wine and good food without end, and now you betray me like this—has your conscience been eaten by dogs?!”
His hoarse roar echoed, but Guiyi Li Jiu only sighed, bowed deeply to him, and said nothing more.
Lin Huanhuan gave a faint smile and flicked a candy bean into his hand. “This is the antidote. Take it and you’ll be fine.”
“But let me remind you: for half an hour after taking it, you must not have any strong emotional fluctuations, or it will affect the efficacy of the medicine. You’d better find a secluded place with no one around to take it.”
“Thank you, Miss Lin. You truly keep your word! I’ll take my leave.”
Guiyi Li Jiu’s face lit up with delight. After bowing, he hurried away as fast as he could.
‘That Guiyi probably won’t come back,’ Lin Huanhuan nodded to herself.
Lin Huanhuan turned back. Huang Luocheng was staring at her like a ghost.
“Why? I agreed to hand over that woman to you, so why ambush me? Offending the White Tiger Hall does you no good, does it?”
Huang Luocheng asked coldly, but Lin Huanhuan scoffed: “She’s one of mine—her spiritual vein belongs to me. How could I give her to you? Are you dreaming?”
“You’d go to war with my White Tiger Hall over some mere outer disciple?!”
“Weren’t you the ones who made the first move? Why are you pretending to be pitiful now?”
Huang Luocheng roared, “A mere outer disciple—she should feel honored to contribute to my White Tiger Hall!”
Lin Huanhuan retorted in kind, “To my Lin Jia, your White Tiger Hall is nothing but ants. So what if I oppress you? Being slaughtered by my Lin Jia is your White Tiger Hall’s honor!”
“If you’re not grateful, fine, but to think you’d dare resist? For hurting my people, you all deserve to descend to the eighteenth level of hell!”
“You actually compare an outer disciple to my White Tiger Hall? What nonsense are you spouting? How could this be the same?!”
“How is it not the same? In the end, you’re all just ants to be crushed with a wave of my hand!”
Huang Luocheng nearly spat blood. He’d always done as he pleased, bullying others without consequence—when had he ever been treated like this? Not only was he tricked, he was cursed on top of it. The humiliation was unbearable!
Enraged, he charged with his blade, intending to prove everything with sheer strength!
It was obvious, however, that he had overestimated himself. After just a few moves, he was quickly forced into a disadvantage, even reaching the point where he had to consider using his life-saving trump card.