Feng Yunshu's heart skipped a beat, and her face involuntarily flushed. Where on earth did this Helan Yanting learn all these cheesy pick - up lines? He seemed so proficient. Could it be that he had used the same tricks on other girls?
The more Feng Yunshu thought about it, the more something seemed amiss. The image of Bai Zhixi she had seen at Concubine Xi's place popped into her mind. Something was definitely off...
Thinking of this, Feng Yunshu stretched out both hands to create a barrier between them, pushing Helan Yanting away. She stared into his eyes with wide - open eyes.
"Look into my eyes and answer me truthfully. Have you said these things to other girls before?"
Helan Yanting raised his eyebrows and gave a teasing smile. "If I have, what will my wife do?"
Feng Yunshu's expression immediately changed. "So there really are? Fine, you..."
Before she could finish, Helan Yanting continued, "But what if I haven't? Wouldn't my wife be wronging me? Can I get some compensation then?"
"What, do you still want compensation from me?"
Feng Yunshu rolled her eyes at him impatiently. "Do you want a divorce letter?"
"I'm not joking anymore." Helan Yanting smiled. "I've only said those words to my wife. There are no other women. How could my wife doubt my true feelings? Sigh..."
"Really?"
"Truer than pearls."
"Fine, I'll trust you for now."
At this time, Helan Yanting ordered his secret guards to immediately go into the mountains to find pythons over ten years old and obtain their snake gallbladders.
Fortunately, there was a deep mountain not far from the military camp, and there were quite a few giant pythons over ten years old. This wasn't much of a problem.
While waiting for the snake gallbladders, Feng Yunshu and Helan Yanting resolved their minor misunderstanding and soon got down to business.
"Your Highness, who do you think sent those bounty killers to assassinate me?"
Feng Yunshu frowned. "I think this person must know me very well and even be aware of my identity as a cultivator. That means this person not only knows me but also knows that I'm not the real eldest daughter of the Feng family."
Helan Yanting pondered. "Why does my wife come to this conclusion?"
"Your Highness, did you ask Yan Qi to bring back the staff from one of those killers?"
Helan Yanting nodded. "It should be brought back."
"Ask him to bring the staff here."
Soon, Yan Qi brought the staff over.
"Guard Yan, did those two confess any information?"
Yan Qi shook his head. "My lord, Young Master Yun, after interrogation, their statements remained the same. It seems they really don't know the identity of the mastermind."
After hearing this, Feng Yunshu and Helan Yanting exchanged a glance, and their expressions turned solemn.
"My lord, how should we deal with those two? Kill them directly?"
"Wait." Just then, Feng Yunshu spoke before Helan Yanting. "Your Highness, I have an idea. I'm not sure if it will work."
"Tell me."
"Since the other party knows my identity and their goal is to take my life, why don't I play along? I'll let these two bounty killers take a fake head I've fabricated back to claim their reward. But I'll add something special to them for easy tracking and surveillance. Maybe this way, we can lead out the mastermind."
After saying that, Feng Yunshu looked up at Helan Yanting. "What does Your Highness think?"
Helan Yanting was silent for a moment and then said, "This method might be worth a try."
"Great! Since that's the case, let's carry out this plan first."
Feng Yunshu thoughtfully touched her face. "But if so, I may have to change my appearance again."
After Yan Qi left, Feng Yunshu picked up the staff to examine it closely.
"Is there anything strange about this staff?" Helan Yanting looked at the staff in confusion.
"This staff must have been made by a high - ranking monk."
Feng Yunshu held the staff in her hand, closed her eyes, and concentrated her spiritual energy, trying to track the whereabouts of the staff's owner through the remaining aura on the staff.
The staff was quite old. Feng Yunshu had only intended to give it a try, but unexpectedly, she did find something.
Her vision drifted with the information from the staff, and a bloody scene that was too horrible to look at appeared before her eyes. The strong smell of blood lingered in her nose.
Feng Yunshu's heart skipped a beat. She was startled by the sight.
Then, she looked around and found that this place was a temple. The temple was not large and looked rather simple, but it had a long history. However, now the open space of the temple and the ground inside were littered with the corpses of monks.
The owner of the staff was in the middle of these corpses. It was an old abbot with gray hair and beard. His expression was extremely restless. The fatal wound was on his neck, a deep cut that almost killed him instantly.
The other monk corpses had basically the same wounds. It seemed that they were killed by the same group of people. Feng Yunshu felt a chill down her spine, and anger slowly welled up from the top of her head.
What kind of hatred could drive someone to do such a heinous thing? It was simply insane!
Feng Yunshu's emotions fluctuated violently, and the gathered spiritual energy began to disperse. As the magic power disappeared, the scene before her eyes suddenly vanished.
"My wife, what's wrong? Why do you look so pale and shiver all over?"
Helan Yanting had been watching from the side, but he couldn't see what Feng Yunshu had seen. He only saw Feng Yunshu holding the staff with her eyes closed, gradually starting to shiver all over, with a pale face and cold sweat oozing from her forehead.
Seeing this, Helan Yanting realized something was wrong. He immediately stepped forward, grabbed her shoulders, and tried to wake her up.
Feng Yunshu suddenly opened her eyes and returned to reality. She nervously grabbed Helan Yanting's hands tightly. "Your Highness, something... something terrible has happened!"
Seeing Feng Yunshu's panicked expression, Helan Yanting gently patted her back to soothe her emotions. "No matter what happens, I'm here. I'll always be with you. Don't be afraid."
With his soothing, Feng Yunshu's emotions gradually calmed down, and her mind regained the ability to think calmly.
"Your Highness, just now I saw a terrible scene by tracking the aura on this staff!"
"What on earth happened?" Helan Yanting was also very curious. What on earth had Feng Yunshu seen to have such a strong emotional reaction?
Feng Yunshu told Helan Yanting exactly what she had seen. "... Your Highness, I think those people must have done such a crazy thing just to get this staff. And these people have no humanity at all. They're so cruel, worse than beasts!"
Helan Yanting pondered for a moment after hearing this. "Did you see clearly what the name of the temple was? If what you saw is true, maybe we can use this clue to find out the identity of the mastermind."
"I remember. It's called Nanruo Temple."
"Nanruo Temple..." Helan Yanting frowned slightly and then said, "Is this temple in the Dan Kingdom?"
Feng Yunshu hesitated. "The whole style of the temple and the surrounding environment do seem to be in the Dan Kingdom, but I didn't see other scenes, so I can't be sure about this."