Warning: Mild emetophobia alert. (No graphic details.)
The group of four had hardly walked a few steps before Han Yunxi muttered, “There’s poison up ahead. It’s not very concentrated, but it seems like someone’s been poisoned. Or not, it’s unclear.”
“Is it dangerous?” Long Feiye asked.
“No, it’s nothing like poison gas, so there’s no issues. It’s the same poison as you guys, so we should hurry up and take a look,” Han Yunxi replied.
But it wasn’t long before a disgusting stench reached their nostrils.
“What kind of smell is that?” Tang Li looked back. “Sister-in-law, this isn’t poisonous?”
“No. It’s a little like rotting corpses,” Han Yunxi was puzzled too. This scent was very strange, but the detox system didn’t set off any alarms.
“Gu Beiyue, be careful up ahead,” Long Feiye added.
As they walked past the equivalent length of the secret chamber, Han Yunxi’s group noticed a fist-sized hole on their right. Gu Beiyue carefully took a peek inside and sucked in a cold breath. He whipped his head back and exclaimed, “Princess, it’s not poison, but something big’s happened!”
“What is it? What did you see?” Han Yunxi felt uneasy, afraid that something had happened to Gu Qishao or Ning Jing. This tunnel was simply too cramped. They could only keep moving if Gu Beiyue led them on. Gu Beiyue immediately punched at the hole, causing the wall to cave in. Beyond was a tiny room illuminated from the light above. As it turned out, this was the place where Gu Qishao and Bai Yanqing had fallen during their fight.
But the scene before them stunned them. Instead of a room, it was better to call the place a frightening trap. Six iron pillars stood in the space, each of them covered with countless blades. All of them were pointing upwards, making the pillars look like cacti. The pillars made a circle in the center of the room, rotating at a steady rhythm at high speeds. The sight made it seem like a room of constantly rotating blades.
In other words, this was a horrifying meat grinder. Anything that fell inside would be diced to bits.
“Look at the walls!” Tang Li exclaimed.
They saw blood staining the walls above them, along with various pieces of flesh. It was clear that some of them were still fresh. In other words, someone had just fallen prey to these blades!
Han Yunxi’s face was all misery as she bore the urge to vomit, while Tang Li suddenly gagged and ran to the side, dry heaving. It would probably be a long time before he could eat meat again. Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue were both calm as they studied the room in detail. Han Yunxi suppressed her feelings of nausea before activating the detox system to check again. She was certain the traces of poison had come from these errant pieces of flesh. It was no wonder the detox system couldn’t give her a clear diagnosis with all these fragments scattered about. All it told her was that “someone” was poisoned, making her heart suddenly anxious.
She asked, “Long Feiye, are you guys certain that Gu Qishao…has an undying body?”
“Yes, you’ve witnessed it yourself just now,” Long Feiye was sure.
“But…but someone was just chopped to bits here. That person was poisoned too–with the same poison as you guys,” Han Yunxi stammered.
Bai Yanqing must have plenty of safeguards on hand to protect against poison. Only Long Feiye’s faction would be the ones getting poisoned! She was too afraid that the bits of flesh were Gu Qishao’s remains!
At her words, Long Feiye exchanged glances with the other men.
“He can even take the blow of Profound Frost Sword’s sword qi, much less these simple blades,” Long Feiye remarked.
Suddenly, Tang Li cried out, “Ning Jing!”
Ning Jing…
The poison gas from before had issued from cracks in the walls and covered all their surroundings. If Ning Jing was closeby, it was very possible for her to be poisoned! Could it be that Bai Yanqing had tossed the woman into this room after he was done using her? Tang Li gaped at them. For a second, the group didn’t know how to react. Abruptly, Tang Li gave a howl and ran into the room. Luckily, Long Feiye blocked him with his body and pushed him against the wall.
“It’s only a suspicion,” he said coldly. “Why are you rushing to your death so fast?”
Something as frightful as this meat grinder trap would lead to death as soon as the victim ran inside. There was no way to save them.
“Suspicion…it’s only, a suspicion…” Tang Li mumbled to himself.
Han Yunxi was standing right next to Tang Li and had to admit she was at a loss as well. She couldn’t accept the loss of either Gu Qishao or Ning Jing. She only hoped this was all a misunderstanding. A mistake!
Gu Beiyue shot a few flying daggers into the room. Though they were small, their strength was great, and soon knocked each of the six pillars sideways until they crashed into the walls. At this, the rotation stopped, breaking down the horrific meat grinder. As Gu Beiyue stepped inside carefully, he found no other traps and turned to Long Feiye. “It’s fine now,” he said.
Gu Beiyue and Long Feiye could always maintain their calm.
“Take a look first, make sure it’s the same hole that Gu Qishao fell into,” Long Feiye replied.
If Gu Qishao and Bai Yanqing had really fallen down here, why did they disappear? It wasn’t possible for Gu Qishao to let Bai Yanqing go, but how could two people who were all tangled up get out of this secret room by walking? Who had been cut to bits? Where were Gu Qishao and Bai Yanqing now?
They had to answer these questions.
Gu Beiyue immediately flew up to check the top of the hole. Long Feiye pressed a hand on Tang Li’s shoulder in case he did anything stupid. Seeing Han Yunxi knitting her brows and looking worried, he finally creased his brows as well. The only people to make him fret were his little brother Tang Li and this woman. Of course, now there was one more little fellow to add to the mix.
He rubbed Han Yunxi’s brows and said, “Both of you, lift your spirits. Gu Qishao can’t die and Bai Yanqing’s never killed a hostage before. He has even less reason to do so now.”
Neither Han Yunxi nor Tang Li replied, both of them wondering who else it could be that died besides those two? Bai Yanqing wouldn’t be so stupid or cruel to poison one of his subordinates out of the blue!
Soon enough, Gu Beiyue returned with a report. “This is the hole alright. The top faces the entrance to the stone room.”
“Tang Li, go see if there’s any more switches on the walls,” Long Feiye said.
If the only entrance to this secret room was from above, then it’d be strange to see all those bloodstains and flesh. However, if there was another entrance, this wouldn’t be weird at all. Han Yunxi was the first to recover and patted Tang Li on the shoulder.
She comforted, “Tang Li, your big brother is right. Bai Yanqing wouldn’t be killing his hostages at a time like this.”
Tang Li gave a long exhale before stepping in to inspect the room. Gu Beiyue hovered on one side, using his dagger to scrape at the disgusting, stuck pieces of flesh and blood on the walls.
Soon enough, Tang Li came to a conclusion. All three other walls in the room were sealed tight. Unless they were broken through by force, it was impossible to get inside.
“All of you back away, I’m going to inspect the last wall,” Tang Li murmured.
The wall that Gu Beiyue broke down was pretty much in taters, but that didn’t affect Tang Li’s investigation. He felt around the surface before concluding, “This is a movable door.”
“So whoever died must have entered through this door,” Han Yunxi said.
“Gu Qishao tied up Bai Yanqing so tight, so how did they get out of here after falling in? How could they even keep walking?” Han Yunxi wondered. “Did Bai Yanqing break free of the vines? Or his subordinates surrounded Gu Qishao and were thrown into the room to die?”
“But Bai Yanqing’s subordinates wouldn’t necessarily fall prey to his poisons, right?” Tang Li rebutted.
At this time, Gu Beiyue spoke up from scraping the meat on the walls. “Take a look, what’s this?” His expression was especially solemn as he picked out a copper coin with a piece of red string attached.
“What is it?” Tang Li was confused. Most copper coins weren’t tied together with red strings. This was probably some sort of hanging accessory.
Han Yunxi and Long Feiye recognized it at once. She stepped forward with a handkerchief and wiped excess blood off the coin, only to see a familiar flame symbol on its surface.
“It’s Gu Qishao’s!” she was certain. Pill Furnace Master had given this to Gu Qishao via a shadow guard after he left it for the old man during their meeting at Medicine Requesting Cave. Gu Qishao had wanted to give her the coin back then, but she rejected him.
Had it fallen from Gu Qishao’s body, or had he…
As Han Yunxi looked up, Gu Beiyue picked out a piece of tattered cloth from the mangled flesh. It was red, making his brows crease. “This is made from high-quality ‘celestial silk’ that keeps the wearer warm in winter and cool in summer. I’ve only seen the material with Qishao’s clothes.”
Meanwhile, all of Bai Yanqing’s subordinates wore black. Moreover, how could any of them own such rare fabric? It was unknown whether they even had silver on hand! Thus, this piece of fabric had to below to Gu Qishao’s scarlet red robes!
Han Yunxi’s group fell silent. Even the reticent Long Feiye showed an expression of worry on his face.
“Maybe the coin and fabric fell apart during the fight with Bai Yanqing?” Han Yunxi suddenly blurted.
But even she found the suggestion laughable. Nobody answered her question either. Now Long Feiye began to suspect his own beliefs. Gu Qishao had spent all that effort to trap Bai Yanqing, so how could be he willing to let him go? He was no fool! This was Bai Yanqing’s turf, so once the man escaped, they’d be stuck as the passive party. Moreover, he was keeping their enemy pinned down to buy them more time!
Those vines had grown from Gu Qishao’s arms and relied on his blood for subsistence. Like Gu Qishao himself, they were resistant against destruction, poison, and cuts. Bai Yanqing couldn’t have escaped so easily!
Unless…Gu Qishao had gotten into trouble!
