Chapter 48 Part 2

“Is it an illusion?” Lin Langyi couldn’t think of any other explanation.

Zhai Yi shook her head. “Doesn’t seem like it.”

She watched as everyone stood silently in place, staring fixatedly at the Nine Dragons Auspicious Flower.

“But why are there three?”

Lin Langyi realized why No. 2 and the others had been poisoned. With three flowers, the toxic fragrance upon blooming was even more intense and stimulating. The formless pills could temporarily resist it, but only for one flower. With three blooming together, the pills’ effect would rapidly diminish.

If it were one Nine Dragons Auspicious Flower, the formless pill could hold out for four hours. But with three blooming at once, it lasted less than one hour.

“I’ll go pick the Nine Dragons Auspicious Flower. You take No. 2 and the others away.”

In the current situation, Lin Langyi had no time to overthink; she could only pick the flowers while saving people. As for the others’ lives, she couldn’t care less.

Zhai Yi pulled her back. “You hide in the mountain crevices. I’ll pick the flowers and save people.”

Lin Langyi disagreed. “You can’t do it alone.”

“Young Master knows only a fraction of my martial prowess. Here, I can come and go freely. Just watch.”

Seeing Lin Langyi about to argue, Zhai Yi spoke first. “Young Master, please trust me.”

Lin Langyi made a difficult decision. “Make it quick.”

She handed over three flowfire bombs. “Take these. Use them if there’s danger—blast them.”

Zhai Yi took only two, leaving one for Lin Langyi. “Okay.”

Lin Langyi clutched the flowfire bomb and hid in a mountain crevice. She watched tensely as Zhai Yi swiftly wove through the crowd. Her movements weren’t as invisibly fast as at the relay station; she advanced while observing the motionless people.

Zhai Yi glanced at No. 2 and the other two but didn’t immediately bring them to Lin Langyi, because in the original plot, these people had been controlled.

And their target wasn’t the Nine Dragons Auspicious Flower—it was Lin Langyi.

Lin Langyi also sensed something off. The Nine Dragons Auspicious Flower’s fragrance could induce hallucinations, cloud the mind, and cause mental confusion. People in such a state were easily manipulated by those with ill intent to do things against their will.

The condition of the people on the mountain resembled that controlled, lost state.

Especially—

A flash of insight struck Lin Langyi, her pupils contracting. “The flute sound?”

They had heard a strange flute after crossing the bridge, but by the time they reached the summit, it had stopped.

Flute sound.

Motionless crowd.

Three Nine Dragons Auspicious Flowers.

Controlling minds, with the flute as the signal and the flower fragrance as the lure.

Realizing this, Lin Langyi shouted toward Zhai Yi: “Don’t! Zhai Yi, don’t pick the flowers!”

There was a trap. If Zhai Yi rashly picked the flower, it could cost her life.

Zhai Yi heard Lin Langyi’s shout but deliberately ignored it. She used the Thread-Drawing Wire to pluck three stalks of Nine Dragons Auspicious Flower and stored them in the Exquisite Sleeve.

Without the Nine Dragons Auspicious Flower, the poison in Lin Langyi’s body could not be completely eradicated.

Lin Langyi watched the instant Zhai Yi plucked the Nine Dragons Auspicious Flower, and a deafening flute sound rang in her ears.

The flute sound was piercingly shrill, hoarse and raucous.

In that instant, the people who had been standing still all sprang into motion.

Lin Langyi watched as everyone charged toward Zhai Yi. They raised their long sabers and swords, hacking at her with killing intent surging like crashing waves.

Seeing Lin Langyi about to come out, Zhai Yi hurriedly stopped her. “Don’t come out.”

Lin Langyi anxiously said, “Quick, use the Flowfire Bomb!”

Zhai Yi leaped aside to dodge an incoming sword. “Young Master, go inside.”

Seeing Lin Langyi still wanting to rush out and help her, she said gravely, “Lan Ting, don’t come out.”

Just wait a bit longer, and the male lead would arrive soon.

“Zhai Yi…”

Lin Langyi was both scared and shocked. Hearing Zhai Yi call her “Lan Ting” made her heart tremble, her expression softening with emotion.

Her hand pressed against the cliff wall clenched tight, ignoring the pain as blood flowed from her fingertips.

Zhai Yi flipped through the air, her toes landing on a sword tip. Her robes fluttered dramatically, her figure heroic and dashing.

She spun and kicked away a long saber, her movements light and agile. She darted behind one swordsman, drew the Soft Sword from her waist, and severed the man’s Achilles tendon with a single strike.

The man instantly collapsed and could not get up.

Zhai Yi’s robes billowed as she moved like a silver dragon, soaring up and down, weaving left and right. Wherever she went, her sword tip struck their ankles, sending them all crashing to the ground.

Zhai Yi’s ears twitched. Hearing many people rushing up the mountain, she breathed a slight sigh of relief, thinking that the male lead had finally shown up.

Zhai Yi kicked away someone charging at her, not noticing who it was at first. When she looked, it turned out to be one of her own.

No. 2.

No. 2’s eyes were glazed over. He climbed up and continued charging at Zhai Yi.

Zhai Yi dodged, then kicked him squarely in the back, sending him flying away.

No. 4 rushed at her from behind. Zhai Yi grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back, and pinched the back of her neck. No. 4’s vision went black, and she collapsed unconscious.

“Zhai Yi-jie, watch out—”

Zhai Yi heard Qiaoqiao’s voice and dodged No. 6’s sneak attack. She knocked him out the same way she had No. 4.

She looked over to see Chu Mingxu and Qiaoqiao arriving with the troops stationed in Jiangzhou. They immediately surrounded everyone and restrained their movements.

“Zhai Yi.”

Lin Langyi ran out from the crevice in the mountain, dashing toward Zhai Yi.

Chu Mingxu glanced toward the direction Lin Langyi had run from. Suddenly, an even more shrill flute sound blared. Everyone the troops had restrained went berserk, charging toward Lin Langyi as if oblivious to pain.

“Xuanji, come back!” he shouted. “Everyone, engage the enemy. Kill anyone who resists on the spot.”

Lin Langyi hadn’t expected these people to charge at her. She hurriedly turned and ran back.

Qiaoqiao leaped forward, grabbed Lin Langyi, and kicked away a man lunging at them.

“Young Master-jie, quick, run to my brother!”

Lin Langyi’s pupils contracted. “You don’t need to save me.”

Qiaoqiao pulled Lin Langyi along, dodging a saber swing from a man on the right. “I can’t just watch you die right in front of me.”

Lin Langyi bent down to dodge a long whip, gripped the Flowfire Bomb in her hand, and hurled it straight at the three men pouncing toward her.

Bang—

In an instant, the three were blasted to the ground, vomiting blood, lifeless.

Qiaoqiao exclaimed in surprise, “Wow, as expected of Xuanji Pavilion’s supreme treasure, the Flowfire Bomb. What power!”

“You still have time for that…” Lin Langyi yanked Qiaoqiao aside and kicked away a sneak attacker.

Before Qiaoqiao could steady herself, a swordsman on the right sliced open her arm with his blade.

“Ah—”

Qiaoqiao cried out in pain, her stance unsteady. Her foot slipped, and she tumbled straight off the edge.

“Qiaoqiao!” Seeing Qiaoqiao injured, Chu Mingxu anxiously tried to reach her, but the frenzied crowd hemmed him in completely.

Lin Langyi had been dragged down with Qiaoqiao. She gripped her tightly. “Hold on! Don’t let go!”

The cliff was tens of thousands of feet deep. A fall like that would leave no bones behind.

Qiaoqiao saw the people closing in on Lin Langyi from behind. Anxiously, she said, “Young Master-jie, there are people behind you. Why don’t you… let go of me?”

“What nonsense!” Lin Langyi pulled out the Thread Mechanism Box. The Thread-Drawing Wire shot out instantly, piercing a man’s throat.

The man’s eyes bulged as blood sprayed from the wound.

Lin Langyi wielded the Thread-Drawing Wire with one hand to fend off enemies while clutching Qiaoqiao tightly with the other.

Chu Mingxu was pinned down, and the troops were entangled with these death-defying Jianghu fighters. The martial artists who had come here were no weaklings. When they went berserk without regard for their lives, ordinary troops couldn’t suppress them at all.

Lin Langyi glanced toward Zhai Yi. There were frenzied Jianghu folk in plain sight, but someone was deliberately manipulating things from the shadows.

Zhai Yi didn’t want to hurt No. 2 and the others, but the mastermind behind it was deliberately driving the three to attack her.

Qiaoqiao was running out of strength. Gasping for breath, she said, “Young Master-jie, let go. Otherwise, we’ll both die.”

“Shut up. You’re not going to die.” Lin Langyi flung out the Thread-Drawing Wire. It embedded into the cliff wall. Lin Langyi pulled the black thread taut and pressed the button at the base of the Thread Mechanism Box. The wire retracted instantly with tremendous force, yanking so hard that it tore Lin Langyi’s right arm clean off.

She gritted her teeth and hauled Qiaoqiao up with one powerful pull.

Qiaoqiao collapsed onto the ground. Seeing Lin Langyi vomiting blood, clutching her chest, and staggering backward unsteadily, she cried out, “Young Master-jie, no—”

The poison in Lin Langyi’s body chose that moment to flare up. The recoil from the Thread-Drawing Wire retracting into the Thread Mechanism Box forced her back several steps.

She spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at the oncoming Jianghu fighters with a look of regret toward Zhai Yi.

At that moment, the sight of Zhai Yi rushing toward her filled Lin Langyi with a happiness and warmth she hadn’t felt in so long.

Lin Langyi’s foot slipped. Her entire body toppled backward, falling off the cliff along with one of the Jianghu men.

In the instant of falling, she heard Chu Mingxu and Qiaoqiao shouting, but not Zhai Yi.

Tears rolled down her face. Feeling aggrieved, she murmured to herself, “I’m about to die, and you won’t even feel a little heartache for me…”

Lin Langyi gazed at the sky growing ever more distant and closed her eyes. After a lifetime of turmoil, she’d thought she’d die from the poison flaring up. She never imagined her end would come by splattering to pieces.

How laughable.

“Zhai Yi—”

In her daze, Lin Langyi seemed to hear someone urgently and panickedly shouting Zhai Yi’s name.

She opened her eyes. Her pupils shrank as she saw Zhai Yi leaping down after her.

Lin Langyi couldn’t hold back her tears. She broke down sobbing, “Zhai Yi!”

Zhai Yi channeled her energy to dive down, yanking off her belt to pull Lin Langyi into her arms. The two twisted positions midair.

Zhai Yi was on the bottom, Lin Langyi cradled in her embrace.

“Lan Ting, don’t be afraid.”

Lin Langyi sobbed uncontrollably, clinging tightly to Zhai Yi.

In this life, she had only one wish: to live. As long as she could live, she would give anything.

But now, Lin Langyi felt that dying together with Zhai Yi filled her with wild joy, utmost honor, and absolute worth.

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