Chapter 980: Lass versus woman

Long Feiye that it was getting dark and they should leave. Han Yunxi and Gu Beiyue both understood, while Baili Mingxiang and Xu Donglin could more or less guess why. It was only Gu Qishao who was clueless about it all.

He couldn’t help but ask, “Long Feiye, how did you know it’s getting dark outside?”

He’d lost all track of time after they entered this space. Who knows how much time had passed since the illusions began?! If not for Long Feiye’s remark, Gu Qishao would have assumed they’d passed days in here already!

Long Feiye only gave Gu Qishao a wordless look.

Gu Qishao was happy he didn’t reply this time, because he went asked Han Yunxi, “Poison lass, why are you in such a rush to leave when it gets dark? It’s not like we’ll be trapped here if night falls?”

But night was when Han Yunxi and Long Feiye started their dual cultivation, ah! Cultivating the Lustbite energy required an entire cycle. Thanks to the changes in his internal energy, Long Feiye could tell how much time had passed. The closer it drew to time for dual cultivation, the more restless his Lustbite energy became. Although Han Yunxi didn’t think there was a need to hide this from Gu Qishao, the Lustbite energy was Long Feiye’s secret, not hers. She naturally had no right to tell him.

Smiling, she said, “I don’t know.”

Gu Qishao was no fool. He knew the rest of them were in on something, but decided not to ask. At best, he’d just stick to Han Yunxi’s side all night and see what Long Feiye was up to. Han Yunxi gently bit her finger and left a smear of blood on the stone room walls. In a flash, their vision grew dark as the floor dropped from their feet. Once again, it felt like they were falling through a bottomless abyss with the wind whistling around them! However, this time it didn’t last as long, and they soon landed on the ground again.

Once they got their bearings, they discovered the world was still dark, because...it was nighttime now. They could hardly see their own fingers in front of their faces. Gu Qishao quickly dug out his night luminous pearl to light the way. Immediately, the poison guards lying in wait showed themselves with relief on their faces.

“Your Highness, princess, you’ve finally returned!” the guards rejoiced. They were afraid that they’d never see them again.

“Did anyone try to enter the premises?” Long Feiye asked.

“None! Nobody from this morning, and not in any of our perimeters, either,” the guard replied.

“Keep up the watch. If there’s any movement, report it immediately,” Long Feiye said coldly.

Fortunately, the wordless stele was tough to open, or else it’d be bad if everyone found out the secrets of the Snow Wolf Clan. As they group prepared to return, Han Yunxi suddenly remembered something and told Xu Donglin, “Tomorrow, find some sandy soil and seal up the wordless stele and the color glazed wall!”

Since they had already seen everything in the stone room, there was no need to return again. It was better to seal the stele and wall to cover up the secret and create a false impression in its wake. If the mysterious figure who spied on them before wasn’t Bai Yanqing, then he wouldn’t know they’d entered the wordless stele’s secret area and discovered all those secrets.

“Don’t worry, princess. This subordinate will have someone find some now and work overnight; we’ll seal up the whole place before tomorrow noon so it looks exactly the same as before,” Xu Donglin promised.

Only then did Han Yunxi set her cares at rest and left with everyone else. Although many more questions still needed answers, Gu Beiyue and Baili Mingxiang had the initiative to make for their rooms as soon as they reached home. Since His Highness and the princess had to dual cultivate, there would only be time to discuss matters tomorrow. Gu Qishao lingered on, following the couple to their doors. Before Long Feiye could shut it in his face, he blocked it with an innocent grin. “Sleeping so early? I still want to find you for some tea.”

“Are you going to scram or not?” Long Feiye demanded. Naturally, he knew what Gu Qishao was planning.

Gu Qishao warmed up his shoulders and said lazily, “Hehe, recently I’ve gotten fatter from eating too much. I’m too heavy to scram.”

“This crown prince can help you,” Long Feiye said as he raised a foot. One kick was guaranteed to send Gu Qishao flying.

Inside the room, Han Yunxi laughed. She walked out and declared, “Gu Qishao, I have something very important to do. If you want to drink tea, come by tomorrow morning.”

Now Gu Qishao grew doubtful. “Something very important to do? Even more than the Snow Wolf Clan stuff?”

Before Han Yunxi could explain, Long Feiye wrapped an arm around her waist and broke into a wicked grin. “It’s personal matters.”

As Gu Qishao gaped, he kicked him out and slammed the doors shut. He stood blankly in place as he replayed Long Feiye’s ambiguous, wicked smile in his head. As a man, he could understand what it meant. Without dawdling, he backed away from the room and distanced himself until he was back in the courtyard. He bumped lightly into the stone tea table behind him and sat down with his legs crossed. As if transformed, he remained with his back straight, his expression stern and serious.

He always knew that Poison lass and Long Feiye had already consummated their marriage, although they’d lived separately for at least a year after the wedding. Poison lass even had her cinnabar gecko mark intact when she went to Fishery Island! Moreover, she still wasn’t pregnant now. So mentally, he had always seen her as just a lass.

But when had she started living together with Long Feiye? When had he changed her into a woman? Gu Qishao seemed to have lost his souls as he sat stiffly on the table while staring at the distant building before him. He didn’t move, looking like a stubborn child.

After a while, Gu Beiyue couldn’t take it any more and strode over until he was blocking his view. “Qishao...”

Gu Qishao recovered his wits and looked at Gu Beiyue, then back at the tightly shut doors. In a foolish tone, he asked, “Gu Beiyue, are we still in an illusion?”

Gu Beiuye sat down on a stone stoll and looked up at him. “No, they’re dual cultivating.”

Gu Beiyue told Gu Qishao all about the Lustbite energy training. Although he hadn’t gotten Long Feiye’s permission to spill the beans, he did it because he was certain the main would approve.

“Lustbite energy...” It was the first time Gu Qishao had heard of such a thing. “Sounds pretty powerful.”

“If His Highness can cultivate to the third level, he’ll be the strongest in the world,” Gu Beiyue replied.

Gu Qishao laughed coldly. “Strongest? Enough to kill someone who can’t die?”

That reminded Gu Beiyue of something as he grew curious. “What was the mysterious strength that killed off the snow wolves?”

Gu Qishao was too full of thought about Han Yunxi to care about that! Even if she was dual cultivating with Long Feiye, the man’s eyes had clearly told him that Han Yunxi was already his woman. He jumped off the table and walked out, waving a hand. “I have something important to do too. See ya tomorrow!”

Like heck he did. He rarely slept after publicizing his past at Medical City. Now it looked like he was going to have insomnia again. It wasn’t until Gu Qishao vanished from sight that Gu Beiyue sighed and left. Actually, everyone spent a sleepless night. With so many secrets and uncertainties before them, who could sleep?

Still, there was one exception to this rule. Baili Mingxiang was sleeping very contently tonight. She hadn’t had a good night’s rest ever since the night the soldiers teased her about being together with His Highness. This time, she slept fully until day, feeling very satisfied. That was because His Highness and the princess hadn’t cast her away. They even left the Lightstream Ball to save her. Most likely, the maze of mirrors and the massive sea serpent were illusions born from her own attachments. In the end, they had broken through them for her. The thing she couldn’t let go of was fear of being disliked, of being unable to return to the pure feelings of master and servant again. Thank goodness princess and His Highness didn’t hate her as much as she imagined.

It was often that someone needed other people’s help to let go of their own attachments. GU Qishao was one other case--Long Feiye’s holler was enough to wake him to his senses.

That morning, she was the earliest to rise. After thoroughly cleaning the tea table in the courtyard, she carried over the tea things and boiled the water. Then she went to make breakfast, busying herself without rest while remaining energetic. Long Feiye and Han Yunxi had ended up sleeping very late after finishing their dual cultivation. Gu Qishao arrived after Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue had finished drinking tea to chat. Han Yunxi was still sleeping in.

Gu Qishao openly settled into a seat by Gu Beiyue with a bowed head. He seemed to be in low spirits. Long Feiye didn’t look at him, but saw him out of the corner of his eye and poured him a cup of tea. Gu Qishao didn’t thank him, but picked it up to take a sip. Then he put it down and said, “I’ve been looking for the Metal and Fire of Ten Thousand Poisons this entire time, but I haven’t found any clues. These two are hard to find.”

Han Yunxi emerged from her rooms at that moment and asked, “What’s the last of the four special blood types?” She remembered that Gu Qishao had mentioned there were four needed to break through the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion, but never named the last one.

Gu Qishao’s gaze grew complicated before he obediently respondoned, “The blood of a Poison Gu human.”

Although Long Feiye guessed as much in the past, he was still surprised to hear Gu Qishao voice it. Han Yunxi didn’t find it strange, but seemed to realize something. Perplexing Butterfly Illusion could break through Poison Gu humans’ immunity, but it needed the five elemental poisons and four poison blood types. Thus, they must be ingredients than enhanced the efficacy of the antidote. Using Poison Gu blood to create an antidote against Poison Gu was a common phenomena seen in detoxifying formulas.

“Possess the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion and you possess the world? What’s the meaning of that?” Han Yunxi asked.

“That legend was around as early as the beginning of the Great Qin Empire. It’s been passed down since then, so the Poison Sect’s forbidden grounds have been busy for the past 200 years,” Gu Beiyue remarked.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Someone from the Poison Sect must have leaked information about Perplexing Butterfly Illusion. Otherwise, who else would know?” Gu Qishao remarked.