A moonless night with high winds.
Zongzheng Huangyue did not use a disguise, walking openly into the Guest-Greeting Peak of Tingyin Pavilion.
“Halt. Who are you?”
The guards were becoming increasingly strict. Yesterday, someone had tried to kill with a stench; this afternoon, someone had tortured with music. Although the young lady found it interesting, their lives were on the line.
Zongzheng Huangyue pursed her lips. “I am Wen Yue, a Guest Elder of Tingyin Pavilion. I wish to see Miss Jiang.”
“For what purpose?”
“To play a game.”
The guard was stunned and about to refuse when he heard movement behind him.
“Come with me.”
It was actually Jiang Nianyao herself, dressed in a mint-colored gown. She looked at Zongzheng Huangyue—whom she had met once in the dining hall—her sickly features looking soft and serene, a smile on her face.
“Miss, she…” The guard felt this was inappropriate.
But Jiang Nianyao stopped him with a look.
“Please.”
The guard immediately changed his tune, raising his hand to respectfully invite Zongzheng Huangyue inside.
Zongzheng Huangyue nodded slightly in polite response and followed Jiang Nianyao in.
…
On a mountainside within Tingyin Pavilion.
Three figures—one in black, one in red, and one in white—were skulking around various peaks.
“It’s a deal then. You help us catch Old Five, and we’ll help you complete your mission.”
Yao Dai carried a burlap sack filled with a lethal amount of medicinal powder on her shoulder.
“Fine.”
Xie Tinglan, holding various array flags, temporarily set aside his grudge against Yao Dai for drugging him with the fart powder. He had decided to unite with them because of Hua Cishu.
Xin Jiuxian had requested a pile of delicacies from Bai Songxu.
She and Yao Dai had abandoned their missions for now, reaching a mutual agreement to capture Hua Cishu alive.
And then whip him to death!
Knowing how incredibly cunning he was, and seeing that currently only Xie Tinglan and Zongzheng Huangyue’s pills remained unbroken, they had simply approached Xie Tinglan. One needed to finish a mission; the other two needed to vent their rage.
The three of them knew Hua Cishu was a glutton, so they decided to use food as bait and set a trap to catch him alive. They weren't worried about whether Tingyin Pavilion disciples might be accidentally caught; it wasn't within their scope of consideration. If anyone got hurt, it was their own fault for being too greedy.
Xie Tinglan set the arrays, Yao Dai scattered the poison, and Xin Jiuxian dug the holes and placed the food.
The three of them spent two shichen working hunched over in the darkness, taking one diligent step after another. They didn't gasp for air or break a single bead of sweat.
As it turned out, one never gets tired when doing bad things.
They set traps on many of the peaks near Guest-Greeting Peak, extending from the inner areas all the way out to the main gate of Tingyin Pavilion.
Yao Dai’s gaze turned cold. “Humph, once I catch him, I’m going to pluck all his fur out!”
Xin Jiuxian added, “I’m going to tie him to my zither and make him listen to me play all night.”
Although Xie Tinglan hadn't been sabotaged by him yet, he also spoke with a ruthless edge, “I’m going to crush those bells of his!”
It was one thing for Hua Cishu to show off those bells on the first day, but lately, emboldened by being near Master, he had been endlessly ringing them at the entrance of Xie Tinglan’s cave dwelling, making it impossible to cultivate in peace. Whenever he went out to stop him, that fellow would cunningly flee, like a light-shunning rat playing a game of cat-and-mouse. It was shameless and detestable.
They didn't actually expect to catch Hua Cishu with just food; the snacks were merely a distraction to lower his guard. The real traps were elsewhere.
Hua Cishu was so arrogant and eccentric that he would surely try to destroy the traps and leave behind something to spite them. Thus, as soon as a trap was triggered, the colorless and odorless powders Yao Dai had scattered would take effect. Itching Powder, Stupefying Drug, Frenzy Powder, Non-Poisonous Powder—everything was thrown in!
It would not only teach him a lesson but also delay him.
Then they would rush over immediately.
And beat him to death!
The three of them stood on the peak closest to Guest-Greeting Peak—the outermost edge of the inner sector—waiting for their prey.
Suddenly.
Xie Tinglan looked up with his strange, color-changing black eyes.
“Something’s happened.”
The three of them didn't dare delay, immediately flying on their swords toward the direction where the array had been triggered.
However.
“Achoo! Achoo!”
“Achoo—”
The trio arrived at a peak near the outer edge of Tingyin Pavilion, hovering in the air and looking down upon a youth in white sitting on the ground, sneezing uncontrollably.
Yao Dai was confused. “Did Hua Cishu grow taller?”
Xie Tinglan frowned. “He’s human.” Not a demon.
Xin Jiuxian looked at the youth’s white outfit, which matched her own, and frowned slightly. Why did his clothes look so much more refined and expensive than hers? It was as if he were richer than her.
The youth, who looked like a scholar in white with a writing brush pinned into his hair bun, had accidentally inhaled a massive amount of dust and was sneezing non-stop. He had broad shoulders and a narrow waist.
When he looked up, he saw three people surrounding him in the night sky. One held a whip, one carried a zither, and one had picked up a half-meter-wide boulder and was hefting it.
No matter how he looked at them, they didn't seem like good people.
Gu Linshu’s heart skipped a beat. Why were there bandits inside Tingyin Pavilion? Was the security this poor?
He patted the dirt off his rear, raised his hands in a polite greeting, and offered a cultured smile as he sent a transmission through his Divine Sense: “Fellow Daoists, I am but a traveler passing through this place. I did not expect to trigger the mechanisms you set. It was not my intention, and I hope you will be magnanimous and not take offense.”
“…”
The air fell silent.
Xin Jiuxian, a semi-literate who recognized characters but hated reading, asked, “What is he babbling about?” She couldn't understand.
“Pfft.”
Yao Dai let out a chuckle. “He’s saying you shouldn't hit him.”
Xie Tinglan, who had transitioned from an illiterate to a man of culture, narrowed his eyes. He despised these types of overly refined and pretentious people the most.
“Were you the one who broke my array?”
Back then, Wen Li had tried to teach Yao Dai the basics of arrays, but she had no talent for it. Instead, Xie Tinglan had ended up studying them. Although he was a demon who could rely on his bloodline power, he wanted an extra skill for his arsenal, so he had chosen to be an array cultivator.
“Yes.”
Gu Linshu nodded, then realized something was wrong and shook his head, explaining through transmission.
“No, I merely saw food on the ground and feared it was poisoned and might be eaten by small animals, so I intended to dispose of it. Who knew that as soon as the array moved, it was broken by the defensive talismans on my body.” After the blunder at Wanbeiwu where he had been caught due to his stuttering, he had learned his lesson and no longer tried to explain himself vocally in dangerous situations.
Xie Tinglan fell silent. An array he had set as a Great Perfection Foundation Establishment cultivator had been broken by a mere Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment kid. What kind of talismans were those? Could a Foundation Establishment brat really possess talismans from a Nascent Soul cultivator…
Yao Dai also noticed something strange. She had scattered half a jin of poison powder here, yet he was completely fine, only sneezing.
She stared intently at Gu Linshu, her sharp eyes lighting up.
“The clothes he’s wearing are made of ice silk; they can ward off fire and poison.”
Xie Tinglan understood her implication immediately. This was a fat target.
The two of them exchanged a glance, the malice in their eyes identical.
“Boom!”
In an instant, they both struck simultaneously, lunging toward Gu Linshu.
Rate on N.U.
