Chapter 548: Successfully taken in
Han Yunxi hugged Lil Thing to her chest as she sat down in the study before taking a deep breath and shutting her eyes. The detox system couldn’t accept living things, so she was using the poison storage space this time. In the past, that space had accepted an entire pond of poison water and sent her unconscious for days. This time, she had no idea what would happen or whether this would work. After all, Lil Thing was a living creature, though poisonous.
After straightening out her thoughts, Han Yunxi quickly got into action. She shut her eyes and concentrated her thoughts on Lil Thing the same way she focused on her poisons. The room grew silent as she shut her eyes, but suddenly…the sleeping Lil Thing darted a glance at the window.
“What is it?” Han Yunxi comforted Lil Thing as she followed its gaze to the window. Is someone there?
Her heart gave a jolt as she peered outside, but saw nothing. When she placed Lil Thing on the windowsill, it still didn’t react, so Han Yunxi stopped worrying. After all, there were plenty of guards at the Duke of Qin’s estate, especially around her own chambers. It was basically impossible for any outsiders to get in. Just in case, she closed all the windows before sitting back down with Lil Thing, who was wide awake by now. Just then, it’d caught the scent of the gentleman and reacted on instinct, causing the gentleman to hide itself. Of course it wouldn’t expose the gentleman now.
In its heart, the gentleman treated Mama Yunxi best of all, even better than that Big Bad Long. That’s why it would always feign ignorance no matter how or why the gentleman spied on its Mama Yunxi. Actually, it knew perfectly well when Big Bad Long spied on Mama Yunxi too. But though it wanted to sell him out, it also didn’t dare.
Aye, it really was a depressing state of things!
Lil Thing looked around the room and began to grow curious and alert. What is Mama Yunxi planning? Why did we end up in the Leisurely Cloud Pavilion’s study after my nap, and why are all the doors and windows shut? Lil Thing next saw the row of shiny little tools on the poison testing tables and gave a shiver. It wanted to escape!
Mama Yunxi must want to use me for experiments! Maybe she’ll even take the poison blood from my teeth!
Han Yunxi held on tightly to Lil Thing before it could escape. “Be good! Don’t move! Be good…” She kept her grip on Lil Thing as she petted it, but it only made Lil Thing more afraid.
“Alright, don’t thrash about! What’s wrong?”
“Lil Thing, look at this! Want to eat some?” Han Yunxi generously presented a rare poison, but Lil Thing ignored her completely to keep struggling. Although it was small, it possessed massive strength. Han Yunxi was only holding on it with one hand while it was scrambling with four paws and crying out.
“Cheepcheepcheep…!”
Han Yunxi tried her best to hold it, feeling as if she was fighting with a full-sized adult! Finally, she lost her temper. “Lil Thing, you stop right now.”
“Cheep!” Lil Thing cried out before it struggled free and leaped to the ground.
Greatly alarmed, Han Yunxi blurted out, “Lil Thing, you get in this instant!”
As soon as she spoke, Lil Thing actually vanished into thin air…
Stunned, Han Yunxi nevertheless quickly recovered and drew her lips into a wicked smile. Success! When she’d shouted just then, her mind had moved to draw Lil Thing into her poison storage space. She quickly went into the space herself, only to see Lil Thing crawling out of the poison pond like a wet rat.
When treating poisons for humans, Han Yunxi was strict and solemn without a single chance for carelessness, but she was rather cheeky at heart. She silently laughed at the sight of Lil Thing and purposely kept silent. Lil Thing looked left and right before trembling in fear. Its neat white fur stuck up at the ends like a puffy furball.
This place is so familiar!
Lil Thing had lived for far too long to remember everything in its life, but it was certain that it’d come here before. This was the poison storage space exclusive to members of the Poison Sect. Not all of its disciples were capable of cultivating their own spaces, but some people had the inherent talent to be born with such treasures. All they needed was a way to access it from the outside. Of course, regardless of how the owner accessed the space, there was only a small probability that it’d appeared at all. Some people might be born with one and not open it for the rest of their lives, much less know of its existence.
Even Lil Thing, who had lived for so long, had only been to one other space before this one. The first time had taken place so long ago that it couldn’t even remember who it belonged to anymore. Now he finally understand how Mama Yunxi had taken out so many yummy poisons from such a small pouch. So she was hiding a dimension all her own!
Lil Thing looked around before suddenly shutting its eyes and trying its hardest to communicate with Mama Yunxi via telepathy. Unfortunately, it couldn’t find Mama Yunxi no matter how it tried. From the look of things, Mama Yunxi had just unlocked this space, so there was still room for it to upgrade. Although a little disappointed, Lil Thing still held out hope. It believed that the day would come when it could come in here and talk to Mama Yunxi telepathically. Then it’d be able to tell her all sorts of secrets. For example, there was the fact that his gentleman had always liked Mama Yunxi, or that Big Bad Long had done a bunch of wicked things behind her back, or that Gu Qishao was actually a Poison Gu human and rather similar to itself, an existence that would neither age nor die.
Will a day like that ever come? Will I have to wait long? Lil Thing didn’t know either.
Nobody was around in the space, so Lil Thing’s round pupils turned crafty as it looked around. Once it was sure Mama Yunxi wasn’t around, it dove headfirst into the poison pond. Han Yunxi wasn’t sure what it was up to. Lil Thing couldn’t be trying to kill itself, right? But soon enough, she knew what was up.
“Lil Thing, you get out this instant! Right now!” Han Yunxi shouted as she ran over, but she was one step late. In just a few seconds, the water level in the poison pond had dropped significantly.
Water of Ten-Thousand Poisons was tastier than any poison in this space. How could Lil Thing resist? Perhaps it was too absorbed in drinking to listen, because it didn’t pay any attention to Han Yunxi’s repeated shouts. Han Yunxi ended up focusing her thoughts to float Lil Thing up from the water and onto the ground. Right now, it was drunk from all the water it had drank. It burped around its round belly before it flopped on the ground and conked out. Water of Ten-Thousand Poisons wouldn’t make a human drunk, but it completely knocked out Lil Thing.
Han Yunxi looked at the missing chunk of water and felt her heart ache. She picked up Lil Thing by its tail and shook it a few times. “Enough already, stop pretending.”
But Lil Thing didn’t react at all.
Did Lil Thing eat too much poison at once? Does it need to preserve its strength to digest it all? So…it’s actually recovering its stamina right now?
Lil Thing’s teeth housed the poison beast’s toxin, one of the nine ingredients needed to break through Perplexing Butterfly Illusion. Han Yunxi hesitated before bringing Lil Thing to the poison pond and tossing it inside. Compared to the poison beast’s toxin, this water wasn’t much of a threat. She might as well let the little fellow dream itself drunk and enjoy itself in the water.
Han Yunxi inspected the three toxic teardrops one more time. After making sure they hadn’t gone through any changes, she contentedly left the space. As soon as she opened her eyes, someone pushed open the study door and gave her a fright! The intruder was none other than Long Feiye, who exclaimed, “Something’s happened over at the Poison Sect!”
“What happened to Gu Qishao?” Han Yunxi blurted out.
A problem at the Poison Sect was completely different from a problem with Gu Qishao. Long Feiye’s eyes flashed briefly with irritation at her words.
“What’s the situation?” Han Yunxi asked urgently. “What happened?”
“Someone wanted to destroy the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons. The situation’s turned urgent and it’s possible he can’t hold them off, so he told us to hurry over there,” Long Feiye said coldly.
Gu Qishao had only said that much in his message. Long Feiye wasn’t sure whether he was in trouble because he didn’t want to expose his skills, or because his foes were truly too strong.
“Is it the Chu Clan? Why would someone want to destroy the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons? Have they found out something?” Han Yunxi’s mind was filled with doubts. The only culprit she could think of was the Chu Clan because they’d ran into the Chu siblings at the underground palace of the Poison Sect grounds last time, along with Duanmu Baiye.
“He didn’t say. Pack up your things and prepare to leave immediately,” Long Feiye didn’t make any guesses, but he’d been keeping his eye on the Chu Clan. If they really were responsible this time, he didn’t mind going out of his way to cause trouble at Western Zhou, either! With the Chu Clan stirring up trouble in West Liang, it was likely they’d long forgotten about the Western Zhou imperial family.
Neither Long Feiye nor Han Yunxi delayed a moment. After packing some things and leaving a few instructions, they set out that very afternoon. Han Yunxi didn’t tell Mu Linger about this. The girl in question was diligently making prescriptions in the storehouse while humming a little tune. She had no idea her Qi gege could be in mortal danger right now!
To save time, Han Yunxi and Long Feiye skipped the carriage in favor of riding horseback. As soon as they left the gates, they spotted Chu Xifeng with three horses. She and Long Feiye could ride one each, while Chu Xifeng had his own. When Long Feiye got on his horse, Han Yunxi prepared to mount hers. But suddenly, a white-robed figure dropped down from the roof to mount the horse in her place. The figure in question turned with a grin, his otherworldly aura and celestial air a stark contrast to his words.
“Sister-in-law, if you don’t go over there, my big bro will get mad,” Tang Li said with a chuckle. The third horse belonged to him.
Han Yunxi had no time to retort. She turned back to Long Feiye and finally noticed that his saddle was fitted for two people, then obediently made her way to his side. Long Feiye expressionlessly pulled Han Yunxi onto the horse. But as soon as she sat down, his large hands wrapped around her waist and held on tight…extremely tight!
It was both a punishment and protection, because as soon as he whipped the horse, it shot forward like an arrow loosened from its bow. Their speed was so fast that Tang Li and Chu Xifeng even had trouble keeping up. They could only follow from a distance while preparing other horses to avoid tiring theirs out. Even at the fastest speeds, it’d take half a month to get from South Ning to Medicine City’s Poison Sect forbidden grounds! Would they be able to reach Gu Qishao in time?
Just who had Gu Qishao ran into at the Poison Sect grounds, and what had happened to him?
—
Three days after Long Feiye and Han Yunxi left the city, Gu Beiyue left Pill Fiend Pharmacy with the excuse that he wanted to visit one of its branch stores. But where was he going?
TLer’s Note: Today’s the series debut for Legend of Yun Xi! The results of the drama recap poll are in as well—again, check the chapter announcement post for details! ^-^
