Chapter 518: Men, duke it out
Duel!
Long Feiye hadn’t even reacted when Han Yunxi straightened up. “Gu Qishao, instead of thinking of ways to save Mu Linger, you want to duel instead?” she scolded.
She had no idea that Gu Qishao wanted justice from Long Feiye over Mute Granny’s affairs, much less that Long Feiye wanted to figure out the secret of Gu Qishao’s undying body. Gu Qishao didn’t have much thoughts left for Mu Linger and simply arched his brow at Long Feiye. “You don’t dare?”
Long Feiye didn’t say a word but rose to his feet and left. His actions told Gu Qishao that if they were going to fight, they should do it outside instead of wasting words.
“Your Highness!” Han Yunxi shouted. She knew that it was impossible to convince him otherwise, but she only wanted to remind Long Feiye of her words. Back at Jiangnan’s Plum Blossom Sea, she had told him that Gu Qishao was still her lifesaver in the end. Now that Long Feiye’s internal injuries were healed, even two Gu Qishaos might not be a match for a sword in his hand. Han Yunxi hoped that Long Feiye would show mercy; of course, she would prefer it even more if Gu Qishao could shut his mouth once in awhile. She anxiously followed the two men out, but found that both of them had vanished by the time she reached the courtyard.
Where did they go?
“Long Feiye, Gu Qishao, show yourselves!” her angry cries resounded through the entire Pill Fiend Pharmacy, but she was only greeted with silence in the still night. Both men had purposely chosen to leave her behind, and she found no sign of them even after searching through the entire pharmacy.
Since Gu Qishao had the guts to show up, then Long Feiye shouldn’t forget his lifesaving debt, right?
—
Long Feiye first flew out of Pill Fiend Pharmacy to head for the outskirts of the city, with Gu Qishao following him in silence. In the end, he stopped in a field of wheat and stood with his hands behind his back. Dressed in robes of black, he looked especially mysterious in the darkness.
Now he would wait.
….but Gu Qishao still hadn’t caught up after a while.
What’s going on?
He had sensed Gu Qishao tailing him the entire way. No matter how slow the man was, he should’ve shown up by now. Long Feiye grew guarded; with Gu Qishao’s personality, it wouldn’t be below him to launch a sneak attack instead. But his vigilance only yielded Gu Qishao himself a while later, strolling casually through the wheat fields.
“Gu Qishao, what do you mean by this?” Long Feiye asked coldly.
Gu Qishao slowly played with his pretty fingers as he drawled, “If I can’t be faster than you, can’t I be slower instead? The night scenery is so beautiful that this young master would be committing a sin if I didn’t stroll to enjoy the sights.”
The only person who could infuriate Long Feiye was Han Yunxi, but Gu Qishao was probably an equal contender for the role. Long Feiye narrowed his eyes dangerously and took out the golden whip hidden on his body without a second thought. He lashed it viciously towards Gu Qishao!
Instead of using a sword, he was going straight for the whip! His swordsmanship was already among the best in all of Cloud Realm Continent, but his best skills laid in the whip!
“Straight to the point! This old man likes it!” Gu Qishao laughed out loud as he narrowly avoided the lash. His figure flashed before it appeared in the skies above, where he suddenly launched a tiny seed. It was about the size of a grain of rice, its trajectory difficult to see with human eyes. Many would have trouble avoiding it, but Long Feiye simply shut his eyes and listened for its location with his ears. He turned aside his face at the last moment, allowing the seed to bypass his cheek and land in the field behind him.
Wuhh-pssSSH!
Faster than opening his eyes, Long Feiye’s whip flashed through the air and caught Gu Qishao by surprise. He took a lash directly across the chest that left split flesh in its wake. Gu Qishao lowered his head, his crafty eyes narrowing into slits. But Long Feiye didn’t stop. His second lash came flying at Gu Qishao like a bullet! The long, slim weapon was filled with limitless strength as it headed for Gu Qishao’s heart!
Gu Qishao didn’t dodge. He slowly raised his head to look at the incoming weapon. The force of the incoming lash had already stirred up the fabric of his brilliant scarlet robes and long black hair, making him look like a dancing flame in the night. The flickering cloth blazed like his personality, wild and chaotic, liberal with love and hate!
Abruptly, the whip hit its target. Though it looked like a light touch, it had soundly struck against his heart! Yes, it hit the organ exactly without missing a hair. Thanks to the momentum behind the lash, Gu Qishao was sent flying backwards in the next second with a trail of fabric in his wake, looking like a meteorite falling from the sky. He crashed into the field of wheat while an expressionless Long Feiye cooly withdrew his whip with a flick of his wrist.
He didn’t move, but stood there to wait.
His proud and lofty form standing in the wheat fields beneath the moonlight seem completely dauntless, like a spirit holding up Heaven and Earth. It also looked a little lonely in its silent solitude. He showed none of the joys in knocking his opponent down, but simply stared straight ahead with his blank face and cold, penetrating eyes as deep as an endless sea.
A tendril of poison bramble had inexplicably wrapped itself around Long Feiye’s ankle and was slowly climbing its way up his leg. It had yet to attack him directly, nor bind him up with its thorns. It was also the reason why Long Feiye wasn’t moving—any action now would simply spur the thorn to attack and poison him. Gu Qishao didn’t stir, while Long Feiye stood still with a cold face. Time seemed to freeze between them both until the wind picked up and ruffled the stalks of wheat.
When the thorny bramble finally succeeded in trapping Long Feiye’s entire body, Gu Qishao slowly walked out from the wheat again. There was a large slash across his body as well as an open wound in the location of his heart, but he appeared perfectly fine otherwise. Once again, he was playing with his fingers as he strolled over. He carelessly raised his head before grinning at the sight of Long Feiye, his bewitching expression devastating enough to cause the fall of entire nations. “Aiya, Your Highness Duke of Qin, what’s the matter with you now?”
Of course Long Feiye knew what was the matter. His ankle had been trapped from the moment he attacked with his second lash. This strange thorny vine had grown from none other than the seed Gu Qishao first tossed at him. Being a fiendish genius from birth, Gu Qishao had an uncanny mastery of all sorts of medicinal plants. A simple thorny bramble was like child’s play to him.
Long Feiye had already lashed out thrice, while Gu Qishao had countered with one move of his own. Although Gu Qishao was the one sporting injuries, it was currently Long Feiye at a disadvantage. Being wrapped up by a poison bramble meant that a single careless movement could cause him to get poisoned. Still, Long Feiye ignored the plant to stare at Gu Qishao’s heart, then intoned, “An undying body.”
His voice was calm and even, with no sign of a question. Gu Qishao laughed out loud and said, “You’re the first person in the world to find out…and you’ll be the last as well.”
So speaking, he extended a finger and beckoned repeatedly to one of the vines entrapping Long Feiye. As if in answer to his thoughts, the plant tightened its grip on its victim.
“They’re poisonous, oh~” Gu Qishao reminded helpfully.
Long Feiye only kept his eye on Gu Qishao’s heart, his voice still cold. “An undying body. Could it be that the Poison Sect of Medical City managed to successfully create a Poison Gu human?”
Instead of answering, Gu Qishao only laughed. “Long Feiye, are you afraid without Poison lass here? This is hypertoxic poison, you know!” As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes and made another beckoning motion, causing the bramble to contract even further!
At the same time, an explosive, cutting force burst out from Long Feiye’s form that sliced all the vines on his body to pieces. As their remnants fell to the ground, he took to the skies, making it impossible for the re-grown bramble to reach him. Instead, Long Feiye was the first to counterattack with a thunderous crack of his whip. As before, Gu Qishao didn’t bother to dodge, but this time Long Feiye didn’t aim to attack. His whip wrapped tightly around Gu Qishao’s waist instead.
Not good! By the time Gu Qishao reacted, it was already too late to break free.
Long Feiye landed on the ground and flicked his whip again, allowing it to circle around Gu Qishao’s head and wrap around his waist again. Two rings were enough to trap Gu Qishao thoroughly with Long Feiye’s level of strength. Too lazy to struggle, Gu Qishao simply stood there as the two men resumed equal standing.
Once again, Long Feiye had only made three moves. Gu Qishao didn’t even have a chance to counter him once. When the poison bramble attempted to crawl for Long Feiye’s ankle again, he stomped it into the ground with enough force to split the earth, causing it to keep its distance out of fear. This time, Gu Qishao was thoroughly at a disadvantage.
The two men stared at each other in cold silence. Intelligent people rarely needed to waste much words. Gu Qishao understood that even if he couldn’t die, he could still be trapped for eternity in a fate worse than death. The duel between them had already come to an end. Still, Long Feiye didn’t speak, but abruptly withdrew his whip and released Gu Qishao.
Surprised, Gu Qishao asked, “What’s the meaning of this?”
“Han Yunxi owes you one, so I’m returning it,” Long Feiye said icily.
“Who wants you to return it!” Gu Qishao raged.
“She told this lordship to do it,” Long Feiye said with a gloomy face, signs of a storm ahead.
“Who wants her to return it!” Gu Qishao was even more furious.
Long Feiye said word-by-word, “Your lordship wanted her to!”
“You!” Gu Qishao felt stifled.
“From now on, the two of you should call it quits!” Long Feiye declared loudly. Gu Qishao had saved Han Yunxi’s life once, but he’d cleared the debt for her already.
Gu Qishao only laughed. “A life for a life. Long Feiye, unless you kill me, you’ll never wipe the accounts clean.”
Long Feiye wasn’t afraid and retorted, “Do you believe that this lordship can tell all of Cloud Realm Continent the secret of your undying body by tomorrow?”
“You dare!” Gu Qishao clawed towards Long Feiye’s throat, only for the man to avoid him.
“Your lordship dares!”
“Long Feiye, don’t think I’m out of ideas just because you killed Mute Granny!” Gu Qishao said sternly.
Long Feiye was startled. “Who told you that Mute Granny died?” Only Chu Xifeng and Tang Li should’ve known, so how did Gu Qishao find out?
Gu Qishao only smirked. “Do you still dare now?”
Long Feiye went straight for his whip, but Gu Qishao didn’t evade him and laughed out loud. “Even if you lock me up, Han Yunxi will know all the same. Why don’t we bet on it!”
“Just what do you want?” Long Feiye asked coldly.
Gu Qishao reached out a hand for the golden whip, but Long Feiye shook him loose. “Get to the point!”
Gu Qishao curved his lips into a wicked grin and said…
