Xia Hui shook her head decisively. Hua Jian was so beautiful; if she had seen her, she would have had a deep impression.
Especially those colorful eyes; they were definitely unforgettable.
Not having seen her meant the assassination wasn’t targeting Hua Jian herself, but rather one of Hua Jian’s identities.
Sitting on the wooden chair outside the inn, Hua Jian continued to probe for various details after they checked in yesterday. As she asked, she really did find something.
Xia Hui’s mother had asked Xia Hui why she smelled so fragrant. This seemed like a very ordinary question, but linked with today’s behavior, it became not so ordinary.
Was Xia Hui’s mother really asking about the floral scent, or was she testing something?
“Oh no, it couldn’t be……” Hua Jian took a sharp breath. She suddenly had a very bold idea.
She had been riding on the coattails of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley for so long; was she going to have to take the blame for them this time?
She had heard Ling Long say that the cultivators of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley distinguished friends from foes based on the floral fragrance on their bodies.
Those special scents were the characteristic of Ten Thousand Flowers Valley cultivators.
And she, Hua Jian, possessed a similar floral fragrance, and the degree of similarity was extremely high. Even the Demonic Path couldn’t tell the difference between the two.
As for the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley itself, they should be able to tell, but for some reason, they had been playing dumb.
So, it was normal for her to be misidentified.
If Xia Hui’s mother was someone with an old grudge against the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley and suddenly smelled the fragrance on Hua Jian, what would she think?
Would she rise up in resistance to protect her daughter from being corrupted by the Demonic Path?
The probability was quite high!
“Couldn’t be what?” Xia Hui blinked, completely unable to keep up with Hua Jian’s train of thought.
“Nothing. I just had a bold idea. I’ll discuss it with Ling Long and the others when they get back.” Hua Jian didn’t voice her guess directly; after all, it was too much of a leap.
The Ten Thousand Flowers Valley was in the Northern Border.
The cultivators they dispatched to other places focused on acting stealthily, avoiding making big waves if possible, especially in the Central Continent.
Why would Xia Hui’s mother have a grudge against the cultivators of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley? And what did that have to do with the inn’s ghost?
Hua Jian thought about it and felt that to figure this out, she still had to start with that mysterious warm current inside Xia Hui.
Although the final target should be Xia Hui’s mother, she was an elder after all. She couldn’t just tell Xia Hui, “Let me use your mother for practice,” could she?
Or go to Xia Hui’s mom and say, “Madam, you wouldn’t want your daughter to live in such a small place forever, right?”
If she said that, Hua Jian felt her karma would be ruined.
“Xia Hui, once Ling Long and the others are back, I plan to deal with that warm current in your body. I’ll catch it and see what exactly it is!”
“Eh? But how do you catch it?”
With a mysterious smile, Hua Jian spread her hands. Several colorful little sprouts grew from her palms.
Xia Hui’s face turned pale bit by bit. Did Hua Jian mean to use these sprouts to catch that warm current?
“Trust my technique. It definitely won’t hurt!” Hua Jian patted her chest in assurance.
Xia Hui was deeply skeptical of this.
……
“This is the method you mentioned? Isn’t it a bit too direct?”
When Ling Long and Shiqi returned from outside, Hua Jian had already pulled Xia Hui along to make preparations, causing Ling Long to frown.
After hearing Hua Jian’s guess, she also felt it made some sense, but not much.
It was truly hard to imagine that the proprietress of an inn here could have an old grudge with the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley.
“You might as well say Xia Hui’s mom is a traitor from the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley. She was poisoned when she defected, and now the poison is acting up,” Shiqi added from the side.
She was familiar with this scenario; her father had died the same way, except one was a physical pursuit and the other was this kind of underhanded killing method.
The Ten Thousand Flowers Valley was one of the major demonic sects; she felt they definitely had such methods.
“Uh, that’s not impossible. Anyway, let’s first see what’s inside her body.” Hua Jian didn’t deny Shiqi’s guess.
Anything they guessed now could make sense, but to truly understand the situation, they still had to catch the thing inside Xia Hui.
“Come, sit here. Don’t make any big movements later. Don’t be afraid of whatever you feel.”
Hua Jian had Xia Hui sit on a meditation mat, then she took off her gloves and pressed her hands onto Xia Hui’s exposed shoulders.
At the same time, several thin vines grew from behind her, reaching toward Xia Hui’s ears.
This made Xia Hui shudder instinctively. The feeling of something suddenly entering her ears was quite subtle, and something even more subtle soon occurred.
“Relax your soul. I’m going to connect to your soul to share your senses.”
“Ah? Okay.” Xia Hui was still a bit hesitant, but throughout the day, she had indeed come to believe that Hua Jian meant well for her.
So, after a moment of hesitation, she followed Hua Jian’s instructions.
An itchy sensation came from her ears. Then, the warm current flowing through her body seemed to be amplified several times over, making her instinctively want to scratch.
“Don’t move. I’ve amplified your senses a bit. It’ll be over soon.” Hua Jian’s hands firmly held Xia Hui’s shoulders, preventing her from moving.
Immediately, she mobilized other vines to crawl toward Xia Hui’s abdomen hidden under her clothes.
Since she shared Xia Hui’s perception, the current Hua Jian could very accurately capture the flow of that warm current.
Several thin vines pierced directly into Xia Hui’s body, entering her meridians and weaving into a net inside, quietly waiting for the fish to take the bait.
This kind of action within the meridians should have caused agonizing pain, but Hua Jian directly weakened Xia Hui’s perception of pain, leaving Xia Hui feeling only the sting of a mosquito bite.
Soon, the warm current that had circled through Xia Hui’s body bumped into the inescapable net Hua Jian had set up.
“Caught it…… Dammit, it’s so strong.” Hua Jian had only been happy for a second before the warm current erupted with immense strength, trying to tear through her large net and escape.
How could Hua Jian give it the chance? Nets made of thin vines covered it one after another. No matter how strong the warm current was, it could do nothing against her physical net.
Others treated illnesses in meridians by relying on finely controlled spirit power, but Hua Jian was different.
She directly used physical thin vines, which was a dimensional strike.
But even using such a cheating method, Hua Jian was still unable to do anything about the warm current in Xia Hui’s body for a while.
She could indeed control it, but the difficulty of pulling this thing out was too high.
Unless she ignored Xia Hui’s body and acted forcefully, the thing could definitely be caught, but Xia Hui would basically be crippled.
She still couldn’t bring herself to do something like that.
“It’s no use. I can only control that thing for now. Trying to pull it out will harm Xia Hui.” Hua Jian opened her eyes and said to Ling Long.
Ling Long frowned slightly. Just as she was thinking of a solution, the room door was gently pushed open.
Xia Hui’s mother, who had met Hua Jian not long ago, walked into the room.
“Eh? Auntie, aren’t you……” Hua Jian was stunned for a moment upon seeing Xia Hui’s mother walk in.
Weren’t you bedridden? How could you walk here on your own?
And you were definitely eavesdropping and peeking just now, weren’t you? Otherwise, how could you have timed your entrance so perfectly?
“Heart-Devouring Vine,” Xia Hui’s mother whispered a name.
Heart-Devouring Vine? Doesn’t sound like anything good.
Hua Jian blinked, her eyes full of clear stupidity.
Without checking an encyclopedia, she was just a little fool who didn’t know what a Heart-Devouring Vine was.
Fortunately, there was a more reliable girl here. Upon hearing the name Heart-Devouring Vine, Ling Long’s eyes widened. “The Heart-Devouring Vine of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley?”
The look she gave Xia Hui’s mother became strange. Such a thing wouldn’t appear on an ordinary person.
According to the records within the Jade Lake Sect, the Heart-Devouring Vine was a method used by the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley to control its disciples.
Only true disciples of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley would have a Heart-Devouring Vine implanted.
This was a special plant modified by the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley.
Its usual purpose was to increase the cultivation speed of their cultivators, but if any cultivator chose to betray them, the Heart-Devouring Vine would reveal its horrifying side.
This was a death that could be fast or slow. Without a high-level cultivator from the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley actively controlling it, the Heart-Devouring Vine would slowly take root and sprout within the traitor’s body, absorbing their spirit energy and flesh, bringing endless pain.
This kind of death was extremely painful, and the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley thoughtfully ensured the vine wouldn’t take the traitor’s life too quickly.
This heart-wrenching torture would last for a full ten-plus years.
“Correct,” Xia Hui’s mother nodded.
“In other words, you really are……” Ling Long’s hand quietly moved to the spirit sword at her waist.
If Hua Jian’s guess was correct, then the assassin from last night might have been this woman who seemed to have one foot in the grave.
Xia Hui’s mother didn’t react much to Ling Long’s wariness. She sighed softly and walked to Hua Jian’s side.
“Let go. The Heart-Devouring Vine is not something you can solve.”
“But if we leave it alone, won’t Xia Hui……” Hua Jian couldn’t understand the mother’s decision. Wasn’t this thing very evil?
“The Heart-Devouring Vine on her is a branch spreading out from my own body. It won’t harm her life in the short term.”
“Alright.”
Hua Jian followed the mother’s words and pulled the vines out of Xia Hui’s body.
As her power left Xia Hui’s body, Xia Hui, who had felt little during the changes in her meridians, suddenly turned pale.
She collapsed to the floor, curling into a ball and constantly gasping for air.
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”
Hua Jian scrambled to help, but in the end, it was Xia Hui’s mother who took out a piece of black incense.
After lighting it with spirit power, she waved it in front of Xia Hui’s nose, causing her to fall into a deep sleep.
Well, it looked like the reason Xia Hui had slept through last night was found as well.
After working with Shiqi to temporarily place Xia Hui on the bed, the three of them sat in a row in front of Xia Hui’s mother, like three children waiting for an adult to hand out fruit.
Xia Hui’s mother also sat on an empty chair, continuing to look at Hua Jian.
Silence, still silence, until Hua Jian scratched her cheek somewhat awkwardly from being stared at.
Only then did Xia Hui’s mother speak softly. “I still find it hard to believe you aren’t from the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley.”
Hua Jian held her forehead. She really had guessed right.
After enjoying the benefits of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley for so long, it was finally time to pay the debt.
“But I really have nothing to do with the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley. At least I can guarantee that I’m definitely not their disciple. If you don’t believe me, ask her. She’s an inner disciple of the Jade Lake Sacred Sect.” Hua Jian pointed at Ling Long.
Words alone carry no weight, but she had a witness!
Ling Long also nodded quickly, testifying for Hua Jian.
“She does have many similarities to the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley, but she indeed has no major connection to them.”
As she spoke, Ling Long took out her identity jade token from her storage bag.
After seeing the jade token, Xia Hui’s mother clearly let down a lot of her guard, but the confusion in her eyes grew.
For no other reason than if Hua Jian really wasn’t a disciple of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley, why were there so many elements of the Valley on her?
The floral scent on her body, the “Hua” in her name, and even in the spirit power she cultivated, the elements of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley were so rich.
Could this really be a coincidence?
Xia Hui’s mother wouldn’t believe it was just a coincidence.
If it were one or two things, she could believe it was a coincidence, but with so many things combined, even a fool wouldn’t believe Hua Jian had nothing to do with the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley.
“It’s also possible there’s some secret connection, but we’re truly not sure,” Ling Long added, not finishing her thought.
“Mhm, mhm!” Hua Jian nodded frantically.
After her gaze lingered between the two for a moment, Xia Hui’s mother finally let down her guard for the time being.
Actually, after watching Hua Jian’s process of treating Xia Hui, she felt that the connection between Hua Jian and the Valley was not what she had thought; just now was merely a final test.
Now that the testing was over, she was relieved. “You guessed correctly. I did indeed defect from the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley.”
Every year, quite a few cultivators defected from the Demonic Path, so Ling Long wasn’t too surprised by the mother’s words.
But it was the next sentence that made Ling Long’s eyes go wide.
“My name is Hua Xinqian. Thirty years ago, I was taken in by an elder of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley and bestowed the surname Hua.”
Yes, Xia Hui’s mother’s surname was Hua—the “Hua” of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley.
A disciple with the surname Hua defecting was an extremely rare occurrence. In the records of the Righteous Path, such a thing had only happened a few times.
This was because disciples bestowed with the surname were those who had undergone layer upon layer of screening and were absolutely trustworthy; they were the true foundation of the Ten Thousand Flowers Valley.
“Why?”
“Because of one thing… I don’t know the specifics either. That day, the senior sister I trusted most found me and asked me to leave the sect with her. I believed her.”
Xia Hui’s mother gripped her wrist, her voice tinged with a hint of regret.