Gagging it out of her throat, she regretted her curiosity.
She never thought she would be knocked out by mere poison.
Most people believed that “a top expert of Flower Full Tower could easily neutralize toxins even without circulating their technique.”
Sure enough, the poison still worked on her normally.
The little girl Qing’er was tugging at her clothes, continuing to speak in a soft, sticky voice.
The Flower Full Tower chief would not be poisoned, so including Su Mu, everyone else…
But Su Mu thought getting drunk was a normal thing, so the effects of alcohol…
Upon hearing Qing’er’s explanation, Su Mu flew into a rage.
Wronged and aggrieved, Su Mu wished she could gag that bowl of cloudy, watered-down, moldy wine out of her throat.
“What?! That bastard actually drugged my wine?!”
“No way, I can’t swallow this. I have to find him and settle the score!”
“After all, it was a black shop… As for why the poisoned wine didn’t affect her? Simple—because Su Mu didn’t regret it. Su Mu had never tasted alcohol since she was a child and didn’t know that even a sip would get her drunk. She only took a tiny sip of the foam on the wine and then went thud—asleep on the table.”
“We’ll go back… Forget it, I have plenty of energy and methods.”
Su Mu waved her small hand, and countless translucent threads, finer than spider silk, spread out along the ground, tracking the scent of Wu Zigi’s poison.
Soon, they traced it to the poison’s odor on him.
That guy was adjusting his appearance at a street corner not far away, trying to disguise himself as a traveling merchant.
His big beard was gone, and his figure had inexplicably shrunk—who knows what bizarre martial arts technique he used.
Su Mu didn’t waste words.
She walked straight over and cornered Wu Zigi in the alley before he could put on his hat.
Wu Zigi looked up in confusion.
He had heard hurried footsteps approaching, but they had no rhythm or pattern, so he thought it was just a regular townsperson.
Who would have thought that when he lifted his head, he would see that face that made his soul fly away.
“You’ve got some nerve, kid.”
Su Mu grabbed Wu Zigi tightly and interrogated him sternly.
The latter said, “Dare to put stuff in my wine, running a black shop in a busy area—do you believe I’ll send you to the Black Hole?”
But the other party had already gone far away—where was the chance now?
Wu Zigi had to accept defeat and begged Su Mu for mercy repeatedly.
“My apologies, senior. I have no personal grudge against that ‘Mo Langyou.’ I was just acting on someone’s orders. I didn’t dare to harm you either—I was only trying to stay alive…”
“What Mo or not Mo, I don’t know him.” Su Mu’s willow brows shot up.
“Wait, you didn’t throw him into the stew pot, did you?”
Seeing Wu Zigi about to nod, Su Mu smacked him on the head several times.
“So you were actually planning to feed me dog meat?”
For some reason, after all these years on the martial arts circuit, Wu Zigi felt falsely accused for the first time.
“I said it was for the dogs…”
“You curse me again!”
Wu Zigi was beaten up again, but still dared not make a sound.
He just gritted his teeth and endured until Su Mu’s hand hurt.
She fumed and put her hands on her hips.
“Forget it. I’m more curious who gave you the gall to run a black shop in this town. You really have no respect for the law, do you…”
Wu Zigi responded in a low voice, “It is His Highness, the future Emperor…”
This left Su Mu speechless with shock.
Saying he had no respect for the law was correct, but “no respect for the king’s law”…
Thinking this, Su Mu grabbed Wu Zigi by the collar and kicked him in the rear.
“Then take me to see your master. Make it snappy.”
Hearing this, Wu Zigi’s face fell.
He couldn’t make that decision either.
That imperial prince wasn’t someone he could see just because he wanted to.
On the surface, he was a retainer, but in truth, due to his mediocre martial arts skills and reliance on underhanded tactics, even the other nine dogs working for the prince looked down on him, let alone the lofty prince himself.
“Senior, can you hold on for a moment? Give me a little time…”
“One more word and I’ll make you a eunuch in your next life!”
“Let’s talk nicely. I’ll take you there right away, but I can’t guarantee you’ll get an audience…”
Su Mu couldn’t care less about that.
“Just lead the way.”
And so the two of them left the town and arrived at the power center of the entire Central Plains—the Imperial City.
Using the identity jade token bestowed by the Ninth Imperial Prince, Wu Zigi managed to sneak Su Mu inside.
As for Qing’er, she had to stay behind at the inn.
When she was left alone, the little girl cried and whined again, and it took a lot of coaxing before she agreed.
Su Mu couldn’t help but sigh.
Thinking of the wonderful expression on that little girl’s face when she returned to reality, Su Mu couldn’t stop herself from laughing.
“Senior, this is the place…”
Wu Zigi looked at Su Mu, hesitating as if he wanted to say something.
Su Mu narrowed her almond eyes, glaring until Wu Zigi inexplicably felt guilty.
“What are you looking at me for? Keep leading the way.”
At that moment, Wu Zigi wanted to cry but had no tears.
“It’s not that, senior. I can’t go any further in here. Without permission, I’ll probably be thrown out…”
Upon hearing this, Su Mu squinted at Wu Zigi with disdain in her eyes and gave a light snort.
“Useless.”
Wu Zigi felt a rush of heat surge to his head, leaving him dizzy and dazed, but he didn’t dare say another word.
“In any case, just ask.”
Su Mu crossed her arms and casually took off the stupid hat that made her feel stuffy.
Her pink short hair immediately cascaded down, and she used the hat as a fan in her hand.
Her casual demeanor, coupled with her pretty face, was not unpleasant to look at.
This unfathomably deep senior acted especially carefree even in the strict Imperial City.
Wu Zigi was secretly startled, ‘Could it be that senior has taken a liking to my talent, testing me from the tavern, then beating me out of disappointment that I wouldn’t shape up, hoping I’d finally stand up straight once? Could it be… that this is a signal from senior? Telling me that I have his backing and don’t need to be afraid?’
Unfortunately, under the disguise, Wu Zigi could see nothing.
All he knew was that the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
‘Yes. All these years of crawling and struggling have worn down my edges. I almost forgot that I was once a hot-blooded genius youth… I can’t let down senior’s expectations.’
And so, having made an erroneous guess on his own, Wu Zigi suddenly became brave.
He walked toward the gate with neither humility nor arrogance.
Seeing this, Su Mu didn’t understand what was going on, but seeing his swaggering manner, she smirked mischievously.
She didn’t follow him, just silently hid behind a pillar to watch his performance.
Sure enough, before he could even step inside, Wu Zigi was stopped by the guards at the door.
“Hold on, Mr. Wu. The Prince is not seeing guests today.”
Then, under everyone’s gaze, the second-rate poison user who had kept a low profile for most of his life slowly twisted his mouth into a wanton, wild smile.
“You’d better move aside quickly. Today, the guest I’ve brought for His Highness is a rare and honored one.”