"Lingyan—"
Saixing suddenly opened her eyes wide and let out a shrill scream. Her eyes bloodshot, she grabbed the long sword that Lingyan had dropped on the ground beside her and stabbed fiercely at Shen Zhou.
"I'll kill you!"
However, before she could get close to Shen Zhou, another long sword pierced into her chest.
The one who made the move was still Shen Zhou.
He had drawn Sheng Yu's sword.
His movements were swift and decisive, without a moment's hesitation.
Shen Zhai was momentarily stunned.
He hadn't expected Shen Zhou to be so decisive this time.
But Shen Zhou didn't even lift his eyelids. He simply pulled out the sword again. His clear and mellow voice was as cold as the winter wind, sending shivers down people's spines as it passed by their ears.
"From now on, grandson will never let grandfather down again."
"Hahaha..."
Shen Zhai was very satisfied. He glanced at Saixing, who was lying on the ground with a look of unwillingness and despair in her eyes. He let out a hearty laugh, then patted Shen Zhou on the shoulder appreciatively and said,
"Good! You've finally made a decisive move. This is how a descendant of the Shen family should be!"
"Our great cause is about to succeed. Your elder brother and I will always remember your contribution! Hahaha..."
Shen Zhai didn't stay any longer. He told Shen Zhou to take care of the two corpses, then walked away cheerfully to the warehouse to check the "gift" from the Holy Master.
On the other side—
A dull ache came from the back of her neck. Yun Xi was groggy and could vaguely hear intermittent voices of conversation.
"...It's a bit tricky. That old man Qing Yi really had some skills. Even in death, he found a way to ensure she took the Life - Transferring Pill..."
The voice was hoarse and old, clearly belonging to the Holy Master.
Then a young voice asked him,
"So what should we do now? There's not much time left. If we can't transfer the Mind - Reading Gu, all our plans will go up in smoke, and we'll have worked for others in vain!"
Even though she hadn't heard this voice for many days, Yun Xi immediately recognized it—it was Zongzheng Fengyi.
Judging from the conversation, it was very likely that they were talking about her.
So... what was the Life - Transferring Pill? And she had taken it...
Could it be the pill in the bodhi rosary left by Master Qing Yi before?
But... wasn't that pill supposed to seal the Gu for her? How could it be related to life - transferring?
Moreover, from the Holy Master's words, Master Qing Yi was no longer alive.
Yun Xi quietly opened her eyes a tiny bit and took a look at her surroundings. Only then did she realize that she was locked in a tall iron cage. Thick and long iron chains locked the cage door, and the gap between the almost wrist - thick iron bars was only wide enough for an arm to pass through. There was no way to escape.
Moreover, the iron cage seemed to be in an underground secret chamber. It was pitch - black all around, with only a few dim candles flickering pathetically on the walls, making the whole chamber alternately bright and dark.
The chamber door was like an iron railing, locked tightly. Two burly men were guarding the door, and there were two round hammers as big as human heads on the ground. Presumably, they were the weapons of the two men.
There was only Yun Xi and the cold iron cage in this chamber. The Holy Master and Zongzheng Fengyi seemed to be in the next room. Their voices weren't very loud, but she could still hear them clearly.
The memories before she was knocked out by the Holy Master gradually came back. Yun Xi still remembered that she had heard the inner thoughts of the Holy Master and Shen Zhai when they were talking.
At that time, the Holy Master had said,
[Trying to use my own things against me. Those two stupid foxes of the Shen family really have no brains.]
[You can take this "gift". Don't let me down. It'd be best to plant it on everyone in the capital. Then... it'll be easy for me to lead my troops straight down and take over the Great Yin. Hahaha...]
Plant it on everyone?
Plant what?
Yun Xi hadn't figured it out yet when the Holy Master spoke again,
"Don't be impatient. Fortunately, Mo Tong was smart. When she noticed that Qing Yi had sealed the Gu on Yun Xi, she immediately found a matching person and managed to transfer it out. Well... she died for a worthy cause."
"After so many years of being nourished by Yun Xi's blood, although Qing Yi's Life - Transferring Pill intended to accelerate and interfere with the refinement of the Mind - Reading Gu so that the core of the Gu would recognize Yun Xi as the master instead of the refining furnace, the Mind - Reading Gu had been in her body for so long. How could it be transferred so easily?"
"Before, when I abducted Yun Xi and wanted to take her back to the Ying State, I had already checked the situation of the Mind - Reading Gu. At that time, she should have taken the pill not long ago. Although the core of the Mind - Reading Gu had been interfered with and started to change, the change was still shallow. I added more Gu poison to it and temporarily controlled the transformation of the Mind - Reading Gu."
As if he had encountered something difficult, the Holy Master's tone was a bit annoyed.
"It's just so annoying that this transformation is irreversible. The Mind - Reading Gu has now recognized her as half of its master. If we want to obtain the complete Mind - Reading Gu, we must find the Drunken - Gu Ring that Qing Yi had during his lifetime."
"The Drunken - Gu Ring!?"
Zongzheng Fengyi's voice seemed very shocked.
"Is it the ring that caused our failure fourteen years ago when we used Gu poison in the palace pretending to be a plague but were finally recognized by Qing Yi!?"
Yun Xi, who was holding her breath and listening intently to their conversation, instantly clenched her fists.
So the plague fourteen years ago was actually a Gu plague created by the Holy Master!
No wonder so many imperial physicians in the Imperial Hospital were at a loss. It wasn't a real plague at all, so it couldn't be treated with ordinary medicine!
So many people had died, so many lives!
Didn't they have a shred of conscience!?
Wait...
The "gift" the Holy Master mentioned before, the thing to be planted on people, wouldn't it be the same Gu as fourteen years ago!?
Or maybe it was an even more powerful and terrifying Gu!?
A chill ran down Yun Xi's back. She desperately held back to keep herself from making a sound.
The Holy Master over there continued.
"Yes,"
The Holy Master simply answered Zongzheng Fengyi and then said,
"You also know that with the Drunken - Gu Ring and different rare herbs, the original functions of many different Gus can be confused. When it comes to shallow and small Gus, it can even make them ineffective."
"Only by getting it can we interfere with the judgment of the core of the Mind - Reading Gu and then take it out at once and make it... recognize a new master."
Yun Xi subconsciously touched her chest.
Could the Drunken - Gu Ring be the one that Hun Yuan had asked Lian Yi to send out before!
Suddenly, the sound of slightly impatient footsteps rang out.
Yun Xi's breath caught in her throat. She thought they had discovered her.
If the ring on her was really the Drunken - Gu Ring, then she had just walked straight into the wolf's den!
Fortunately, Zongzheng Fengyi didn't come over. He just paced back and forth there, seemingly very annoyed.
"But the Drunken - Gu Ring was given by Qing Yi to that stupid woman to help her resist the grandfather's Confusing - Mind Gu. Now she's been dead for more than ten years. Where can we find the Drunken - Gu Ring?"
"Humph—"
There was a hint of arrogance in the Holy Master's voice.
"Do you think I disappeared for no reason when Hun Yuan took in a disciple before? I've already found out that the Drunken - Gu Ring is in the Zhaogan Hall!"
"However..."
There was a hint of confusion in his tone. The Holy Master seemed a bit puzzled.
"I don't know why all the detection Gus I sent out could sense the location of the Drunken - Gu Ring, but when I followed the trail, there was no trace of it at all. It was as if someone had taken it away in time."
"At that time, almost everyone was on the Wuliang Platform. There were hardly any people in the whole palace, and the Zhaogan Hall was almost empty because of Hun Yuan taking in a disciple. It didn't seem like someone would suddenly come out and take it away. It's really strange."