Chapter 221: Black Devil’s Snare
Bai Xiangxiu’s mind blanked out after she was struck. She even forgot to put up a fight as her legs turned into jelly. However, she immediately snapped out of it when a chill brushed her face. She yanked her right hand free and slapped the man across the face. Unfortunately, the man easily evaded her. He laughed contemptuously, “Very good! I like playing with aggressive women like you! Let’s see how far I need to go to tame you after we’re done.”
Bai Xiangxiu was extremely revolted by him. She’d sooner die than allow this man to touch her! And so, she decided to put up a life or death struggle by kicking and flailing around. Unexpectedly, it worked! The man stopped trying to force himself onto her. “You clearly value your chastity very much. I can let you go, but only if you tell me the formula for your fire powder bombs.”
“Alright! I’ll tell you everything. Just get off me.”
The man stood up, “Write down the formula.”
Bai Xiangxiu nodded. She saw a table in a corner of the room; a paper and brush were placed neatly on it. He must’ve prepared this beforehand. She sat down and began to write down the formula while holding her head in one hand. I wonder what he’ll do to me after I’m done writing. Fortunately, the man was actually someone with a brain. “I’ll only know if your formula is real after manufacturing and testing it. So, you’ll have to stay here for now. Don’t even think about trying to escape. There’s someone keeping watch on the outside!”
“Then go, but take extreme caution. It might explode if you get the formula wrong by even a hair.” She hadn’t gone easy on the formula. She was sure that they would lose more than just a few people if they really tried to manufacture the bomb using the formula she’d just given to them.
Bai Xiangxiu slumped listlessly in a chair after she saw the man leave the room. She kept racking her head for a way to escape. She opened the window and noticed that the land outside was incredibly barren. However, there was a man dressed entirely in black standing right outside. “Please shut the window. I will show you no mercy if you try to look outside again.”
The servant is exactly like the master. Bai Xiangxiu glared at him, but accidentally noticed a very special plant hiding in a dark corner. Her heart raced upon seeing it, but she didn’t give any of her surprise away. She grabbed the arm of the man in black and said, “Well I can be very well-behaved if you want me to, but hand that flower over to me so I can plant it in a pot. Otherwise, I’ll give you no peace at all.”
The man in black didn’t have much of a choice after that ultimatum. He quickly found a wooden pot nearby and walked over to the plant. He was just about to dig up some mud when Bai Xiangxiu quickly interrupted him, “Don’t dig from over there! Dig around the flower! And be gentle! Don’t harm the roots!”
“……” The man in black could only move according to her instructions. This woman was simply too important to the plan. He wouldn’t be able to take the punishment if anything happened to her. Moreover, her face was now all swollen and her eyes bloodshot from the beating. She really did seem enchanting and rather pitiable in that state. Wasn’t it just a flower? There’s nothing to lose in giving in to that tiny request. The man in black quickly potted the flower and threw it onto the table by the window. That done, he shut the window and continued to stand guard outside.
Bai Xiangxiu was certain that he wasn’t the only guard outside. But she didn’t have time to bother with any of that. Now that she could closely examine it, this flower was definitely that flower of legend. She’d never imagined that she’d run across it here. But it did make a sort of twisted sense. She was no longer in the central plains, so its existence here wasn’t entirely unwarranted. But this was the black devil’s snare! The flower legends were made of! She was absolutely certain that this little flower was the flower of mythical fame.
Bai Xiangxiu was extremely excited. This flower would be her way out! Only, the way out was going to have to be a wee bit violent. But what choice did she have? This was self-preservation! But first things first, she covered a bowl with a piece of cloth and brought it down hard. The bowl shattered with a muffled crack. She gingerly picked up one of the sharper shards and ran it across her palm. It didn’t long for blood to well up from under the cut, spilling over like a fountain.
Bai Xiangxiu allowed her blood to drip onto the black devil’s snare, watering it with her own warm blood. The legends spoke of a ritual where watering the black devil’s snare with one’s own blood would persuade the black devil’s snare to respond to her call and grant a single wish. Peace and quiet reigned for the next two days, but Bai Xiangxiu diligently watered the black devil snare with her blood. Did that man die from the explosion? No, that’s impossible. Bai Xiangxiu was depressed. The black devil’s snare had yet to take root, so there wasn’t much of an effect yet.
Someone finally showed up on the fourth day. The man stalked in, visibly furious. Without a word, he slapped Bai Xiangxiu across the face, sending her staggering across the room. “Stupid bitch! You’ve cost me my men! The formula doesn’t even work! Three dead, five more injured; those were MY men, you miserable bitch! If I don’t beat you to death today, I won’t ever be able to put aside my rage!”
Just as he started to furiously advance on her, Bai Xiangxiu yelled out. “I wish that every single person will faint when they get close to me for one whole day; starting right now!”
The black devil’s snare was a flower with tranquilizing and hallucinatory properties. Therefore, the man who was beating her up immediately fainted and fell onto the ground right after she made her wish. Bai Xiangxiu heaved a sigh of relief. Legends are definitely not to be trifled with. It was at this moment when somebody tried to enter the room. They’d obviously heard the commotion inside. However, that person also fainted immediately after setting foot into the room.
“This is amazing!” It wasn’t a waste to feed the plant her blood after all. Bai Xiangxiu quickly scrambled to her feet. She had to escape before it was too late. She wasn’t sure whether her hastily called out time frame would actually be taken into consideration. But before she escaped, she had to know who the person behind her kidnapping was. She reached down and pulled off the man’s mask, only to realize he was actually Chen Tao, the city guard captain! Such a greedy man! He even wants the formula to my bombs! I won’t be able to forgive myself if I don’t get some payback.
Bai Xiangxiu took out one of her bombs that she’d wrapped with cotton and carefully placed it inside Chen Tao’s purse. You desperately wanted this thing, right? Well, I’ll gift you one then! She didn’t linger for even a second after she was done. She immediately hugged the black devil snare and ran towards the city.
But something depressed her greatly once she was out on the road. She wanted to hitch a ride with one of the carriages passing by, but all the coachmen fainted when he came too close to her! It was fortunate that she’d specifically wished for people to faint and not horses too. At least the horses were still standing.
She finally moved the men aside after a great deal of pulling and climbed aboard the horse carriage, gently snapping the reins. The horses immediately broke into a sprint and nearly fell into a ditch that was just in front of them. It was fortunate that Bai Xiangxiu was a bit familiar with taking the reins of a carriage. After all, she’d made her way to Tranquil City in a horse carriage.
She quickly rode back towards the city after gaining back control of the carriage. However, the city gates were already closed when she arrived. Due to the ongoing war, the city gates were only open for two hours each day. Not good. I will be in big trouble if Chen Tao catches up. Since she had no way of entering, she could only wave her hands at the soldiers on top of the city walls and yell, “Soldiers on the city wall, listen up! I’m Prince Li, Long Heng’s…” Concubine? Doesn’t that sound a little derogatory? “I’m Prince Li, Long Heng’s wife! Open the gates, quickly! There are enemies that are after me!”
“Alright, we heard you. We will report this immediately.” The soldiers on the city wall had been informed that the madame had been abducted, but they’d never thought she’d show up at their doorstep all by herself. And relatively unharmed at that. But why was she riding on a horse carriage that was carrying so many “dead” men? And why was there a weird potted flower beside her? This madame from the Prince Li Manor was always full of surprises.
Bai Xiangxiu breathed a sigh of relief. She’d finally made it back. It was a sort of relief that one could only feel after making it out of a life or death situation alive. She no longer wanted to move a muscle as she leaned back on the horse carriage.
