She looked at the deep hole and felt stifled in her heart.
No wonder. No wonder Gu Qishao always said he wouldn’t die.
As it turned out, “This old man can’t die” wasn’t just a joke, nor was Gu Qishao putting on airs. It was simply his reality.
Is he a Poison Gu human? Did Gu Yuntian cultivate him into one?
But all the medicine for Poison Gu humans were already used up. If Gu Qishao was a Poison Gu human, then he should know plenty about Bai Yanqing! A frightening thought rose in Han Yunxi’s mind, one that saddened her more than ever.
What could be at the bottom of such a deep hole? Even if Gu Qishao couldn’t die, he’d be in pain! It would still hurt!
“Don’t worry,” Long Feiye murmured.
“Princess, Qishao shouldn’t be in serious danger. It’s more important to find those hostages,” Gu Beiyue urged.
Tang Li was in a rush to find Ning Jing and had already started searching on their right. He would circle around the stone room because the switch had to be located in the perimeter!
Of course Han Yunxi knew time was tight, so she withdrew her fears and said, “Follow Tang Li, don’t let him go off alone! There are lots of traps and poisonous creatures here!”
Gu Beiyue chased after Tang Li while Long Feiye followed behind, still holding Han Yunxi’s hand. None of them knew where Gu Qishao and Bai Yanqing had ended up, or how long he could keep their enemy pinned. The first priority was to rescue the hostages or else they’d be checked and contained by Bai Yanqing.
Tang Li walked carefully to make sure he didn’t miss a single switch. Gu Beiyue followed behind on high alert in case any unexpected flares popped up. Han Yunxi and Long Feiye followed closely, but it wasn’t long before Long Feiye couldn’t take it anymore and stopped, pulling her into his arms for a hug! Words rushed to his lips unbidden, but in the end he only said, “Yunxi, I’m sorry.”
Han Yunxi gave a start. She could clearly hear the hoarse tone in his words. Such a serious apology. She thought he’d question her first, or ask her why she never told him about her pregnancy. She even wanted to explain her muddled, unclear actions. But he never blamed her or questioned her, simply apologized.
She was both touched and pained. As she prepared to hug him back, he let go. With the hostages still imprisoned and their environment perilous, there was no right for either of them to hug right now, much less linger in an embrace. Still holding hands, they followed Tang Li while keeping an eye on their surroundings. But soon Han Yunxi couldn’t bear it either. She suddenly stopped and hugged Long Feiye. It was only for a second, making it impossible for him to hug her back.
“Sillyhead, it wasn’t your fault,” she murmured under her breath as she placed his hand on her stomach. “If it’s a matter of saying sorry, we should both apologize to this little fellow. Once he’s born, let’s do it to him properly.”
Long Feiye grew tense as soon as he touched Han Yunxi’s belly, so much that he couldn’t keep walking, much less hear her words. Han Yunxi sensed his fingers trembling against her stomach.
Heavens, this man has seen all sorts of things, but how nervous is he to have shaking hands?
Despite this, he refused to let go when Han Yunxi made to shift his hand aside. He kept his fingers resting gently over her womb.
This awe-inspiring, cold and fearful fellow–he couldn’t be a babycon, right?[1] For a second, Han Yunxi began to worry that she’d give birth to a girl. If that was the case, would she be jealous of her daughter? Long Feiye was already so nervous while the child was still in her womb; so how bad could it get once it was born? Wouldn’t he spoil her rotten?
She quickly moved his hand away and declared, “Let’s go! And be careful!”
“Owe me for now. I’ll hold you tight once we get back,” Long Feiye could only return to holding hands. He hadn’t given up, but he’d endure for now! After all, this wasn’t the time for a warm family reunion.
Suddenly, Tang Li halted and cried with delight, “Over here! It’s a switch!”
He carefully lifted a piece of rock and revealed its hollow inside. There was a wooden flap within. Before he could tug on it, Long Feiye stopped him.
“Wait, check it thoroughly first!”
Tang Li immediately froze. There had to be a trap near such a switch! He’d probably been too happy to pay attention. Looking back, he grinned at Long Feiye and said, “Alright, I’ll check right away.”
How long had it been since he’d worn such a happy, carefree smile? He was on the verge of whooping for joy. Just the thought of moving the switch and revealing Ning Jing was enough to excite him. He would tell her all about his feelings as soon as they met, including the ones he’d long buried in his heart. He had prepared for a long, long time to let her know just how much he loved her!
Tense and excited, he searched thoroughly around the switch before spotting a very thin length of string. Before he touched it, Han Yunxi warned, “Careful, there’s poison!”
“Sister-in-law, this is a double-layered switch. The string here is connected to the wooden flap, so if we just move the door or the string, the weapons hidden in the wall will fly out. And since the walls here aren’t thick, it’s probably hidden needles,” Tang Li explained.
“There’s poison smeared on that string. You pull the flap while I tug the string. When I count to three, we’ll do it simultaneously!” Han Yunxi declared.
As they did, they heard a bang from inside the stone room. Tang Li was thrilled and dashed inside, while Gu Beiyue stuck to him like a second shadow. Han Yunxi was about to follow when Long Feiye stopped her and said, “Don’t run, I’ll bring you there.”
Although it was hard to be lovey dovey in this environment, Long Feiye still had to take care of Han Yunxi’s pregnant state.
“It’s fine, I’ll use lightness techniques instead of running! I’m only five months along, so the fetus is more or less settled. Fourth Young Miss Ren’s medicine was very effective, don’t worry,” Han Yunxi placated.
Gu Beiyue had already determined that she’d made a full recovery from her near miscarriage or else Long Feiye would have trapped her in a princess carry already. Now he ignored her and went to grab her waist, preparing to use lightness techniques on them both. But he soon discovered she Han Yunxi didn’t have a waist anymore. In the past, his arm could wind around her from the back and hold her tight. At the very least, he could take to the air while holding her by his side. Right now, his arm over went as far as the edge of her protruding belly.
As soon as he touched that spot, Long Feiye grew tense again. Afraid to use any strength, he fell back. Han Yunxi sensed his fingers turning stiff and could help but laugh in secret. Then she removed his hand and declared, “It’s fine, I know my limits. Trust me.”
Instead, Long Feiye stuck out a foot and said coldly, “Step on this and hold onto me!” This tone was akin to an order like the commanding look in his eyes.
At this moment, Tang Li’s cries filtered out, “Big bro, sister-in-law, hurry and have a look!”
Without a choice, Han Yunxi stepped on Long Feiye’s right foot and held onto him. As soon as she tightened her grip, Long Feiye pushed off and got them into the room. She couldn’t help but admit that it was faster traveling this way. Although she could manage lightness techniques, she didn’t dare go too hard, which affected her overall speed. Otherwise, she would have gotten to the men long before they fell victims to the poison.
As soon as Long Feiye landed, Han Yunxi quickly got off his foot, afraid of crushing him. After all, now she was carrying the weight of both her and her child. Inside the stone room, Gu Beiyue and Tang Li had surrounded a section of the wall.
“What’s wrong?” Long Feiye went over.
“There’s another secret room inside,” Tang Li clearly looked disappointed, but he didn’t act out. Long Feiye and Han Yunxi approached to see there was a hole by the lower right section of the wall, wide enough for one person to fit through. It seemed like someone had brought away Ning Jing while they were fighting with Bai Yanqing.
“I hope Gu Qishao can keep Bai Yanqing occupied,” Gu Beiyue remarked. “I’ll go down first and scope it out.”
“No, I’ll go!” Tang Li stopped him.
He wanted to save Ning Jing personally. Everyone understood this, but an unknown hole like this was too risky. After all, Bai Yanqing and Gu Qishao had fallen into such a hole as well. Moreover, the location of the two holes weren’t far, so who knew if they were connected at the end?
“It’s too dangerous, I better go instead,” Gu Beiyue said.
“Stop arguing. Do you think there’s no poison down there? Bai Yanqing and Gu Qishao both fell a long way because I can’t sense the poison in Gu Qishao’s body anymore. Beiyue’s faster, so let him go first,” Han Yunxi said.
No one noticed the extra bout of tenderness that came from the casual “Beiyue” out of her lips, much less Han Yunxi herself. However, Gu Beiyue did sense it. He didn’t say anything, but picked up the lantern hanging on the wall to shine it in the hole. Then he leaped right in. Tang Li had enough wit to send a Needlework needle into Gu Beiyue’s sleeve so it could track him into the hole. Judging by the length of thread it gave out, this was another very deep hole. After a long while, the string finally stopped unrolling.
“It’s very deep!” Long Feiye was surprised. “Gu Beiyue, what’s the situation?”
“It should be safe. This is a tunnel, you guys can come down,” Gu Beiyue shouted back.
Tang Li was the first to follow, while Long Feiye moved aside the rock blocking the entrance to carry Han Yunxi down with him. Below was a tunnel as high as one man, wide enough for single file traveling. Someone as tall as Long Feiye even had to hunch slightly to avoid the ceiling. It was difficult to traverse such a path. In other words, if anyone chose to ambush them here, it’d be a cinch. Of course, Han Yunxi was prudent enough to scatter a bunch of poison powder at the entrance after they landed.
Yes, Bai Yanqing could absorb her poison, but his high-level subordinates would be useless against them!
“Ahead of us…” Long Feiye mused, “Should be the doorway to the secret room above us.” His sense of direction was incomparable and never wrong.
Gu Beiyue smiled. “Your Highness, I’m afraid that’s the wrong direction. I was facing the entrance to the secret chamber above us when I jumped into this hole.”
Now everyone began to wonder. Could they be in the same tunnel as Bai Yanqing and Gu Qishao?
“Go on, everyone be careful,” Long Feiye said seriously.
Gu Beiyue walked at the forefront as the team of four formed a single file underground.
What would they run into next?
1. Babycon – an ardent lover of babies, basically. Inspired by siscon, brocon, and ahem other examples.
