Han Yunxi was scared. Without another thought, she bit viciously into the masked man's hand! Seeing this, Qingyi and the other masked assassins were all struck dumb. Although master admired Han Yunxi's poison skills and wanted to train her in their ranks, she'd only be courting death with her current actions!
Master liked those who deferred to him and were absolutely obedient. Amidst the shocked stares of the crowd, everything seemed to freeze in time.
"Let go!" the low voice that came from above her was filled with the suppressed silence of the calm before the storm.
But Han Yunxi seemed not to have heard. She bit down with a do-or-die desperation, hoping that the other would release her instead. When an intense bolt of pain traveled up his arm, the masked man's eyes filled with doubt. His anger dissipated, to be replaced with a never before seen amusement. "Han Yunxi, are you poisoning your lord?"
What kind of poison was this? He wasn't able to sense it until just now.
Han Yunxi's teeth turned stiff before she released him and looked back, openly admitting her deed. "Yes, and what's more, you've already been poisoned!"
At her words, the masked man burst out into laughter. "Good! Very good!" He really had been poisoned. This should be the first time anyone had successfully done the deed.
"Is it very funny?" Han Yunxi said coldly. She'd injected him with a modern-day toxin, a dose of highly concentrated vitamins. Vitamins were good things but cause acute poisoning when taken in excess that affected the functions of the body, eventually leading to death. Vitamins existed in the past, but there was no way to extract them separately in large quantities to make into poison. If the poison didn't exist, it meant that its antidote didn't, either!
No matter how formidable this person's poison skills were, he'd be helpless against a crisis once poisoned. He couldn't feel the effects now, but it wouldn't be long before he was wracked with pain.
"Han Yunxi, you're growing more and more interesting to your lord," the masked man said. He raised his hand and carelessly kissed away the fresh blood on the skin. "Your lord will take you back and have you slowly treat the poison." So speaking, he grabbed Han Yunxi by the waist and threw her over his shoulders before turning to leave.
Han Yunxi kicked and pounded his back with her fists. "Let me go! I'm the only one who can treat your poison! If you don't want to die, then let me go!"
"Within an hour, you'll definitely die from its effects."
"You don't know what you've been poisoned with, right?"
...
The masked man allowed Han Yunxi to keep struggling as he kept her imprisoned. Unexpectedly, it was right at this time that a red shadow suddenly appeared before them. He descended from the skies, his lavish wide sleeves fluttering in the wind. It made him seem like a flicker of flame dancing in the air, half-divine half-demonic, half-dream half-fantasy.
So beautiful! That was Han Yunxi's first thought. When the masked man said that they'd been followed, did he mean by this guy?
A red shadow, is he Gu Qishao? Just when Han Yunxi was filled with doubts, the figure teased, "Poison lass, missed me yet?"
It really is him! Han Yunxi rejoiced inwardly. Unexpectedly, this guy was even more good-looking than she imagined.
"Who are you?" the masked man asked coldly, growing guarded. This person's martial arts weren't ordinary. He knew that Long Feiye's men were behind the poison mosquito swarm but hadn't caught the existence of this red-robed man.
"Fellow brother, it's not good to bully a weak girl like this, hm?" Gu Qishao grinned, his stunning smile capable of felling entire nations.
"What's it to you?" the masked man asked loftily, extremely disdainful.
Who knew that the extraordinarily attractive Gu Qishao suddenly started to swear, "It's none of my business. But it's a shame that your daddy doesn't like the looks of you!"
"You want to die?!" the black-robed man held Han Yunxi with one hand while he floated to the air, immediately releasing a slew of hidden darts.
Dootdoot!
Han Yunxi's detox system alarms reminded her that there was poison!
"There's poison! It's snake powder!" Han Yunxi warned. The weapons themselves were just a pretense. At the same time that they were released, poisonous snake powder filled the air. Once inhaled, the victim would be poisoned. It was impossible to guard against this type of poisoning!
The masked man shot Han Yunxi a disbelieving look, surprised that she'd recognized his poison at one glance. But Gu Qishao only laughed.
"Poison lass, don't worry. Big brother's not afraid!" he held his breath and took a blood-red whip from his waist before viciously lashing it their way.
Dootdoot!
The detoxification system gave another alarm, there was poison in the vicinity! And the method used to disperse the poison was the same as the masked man. At the same time the whip cracked over, poison powder was scattered into the air. No wonder Gu Qishao wasn't afraid of the poisonous mosquitoes, he was a poisons expert as well. Han Yunxi couldn't help but be bewildered. Why were poison experts suddenly showing up all over the place?
A poisons expert couldn't fight effectively with poisons against a fellow expert. The real test lay in their innate skills..
"A minor accomplishment!" the masked man was full of disdain. He didn't dodge the whip, but suddenly set Han Yunxi down and pushed her out to meet its lash!
"Ah!" Han Yunxi cried out, not expecting this at all. Gu Qishao had no choice but to change his direction at the last second, swinging the whip aside. Afterwards, the masked man dragged Han Yunxi back and trapped her in place with his arm.
"You're no man at all!" Han Yunxi cursed him.
The masked man only gave a cold laugh. "Don't worry, he wouldn't dare hurt you."
"You!" Han Yunxi huffed.
But Gu Qishao kept his smile without getting angry. After withdrawing his whip, he didn't stop, but gave another vicious lash. This time, the masked man used Han Yunxi to block it once more. Against all expectations, Gu Qishao didn't move his whip aside.
Crack!
A ruthless lash landed on Han Yunxi's arm!
"Ahh!" Han Yunxi screamed. It hurt so much that it felt like her insides were breaking into pieces. Even the masked man was surprised. He stood stunned, giving Gu Qishao the chance to lash the whip directly at him! At the critical moment, the surprised masked man suddenly backed away, but unconsciously released his grip on Han Yunxi. Immediately, she fell forwards, but Gu Qishao wrapped his whip around Han Yunxi to pull her towards him.
At the same time, Qingyi and a few more assassins rushed forward with swords at Gu Qishao, surrounding him in a circle as Qingyi hacked at his whip. Gu Qishao's laughing eyes turned serious as he gave up on pulling Han Yunxi closer. Instead, he suddenly rushed forward, withdrawing his whip at the same time his arm circled around Han Yunxi's waist. Qingyi's sword met nothing but air, while a flurry of concealed weapons flew over to attack–not Gu Qishao, but Han Yunxi.
"You better protect her well!" the masked man warned as he unleashed countless darts.
Dootdootdoot! Dootdootdoot!
Han Yunxi's detox system started wildly blaring off alarms. Heaven knew how many different types of toxins were hidden in these weapons! Though Gu Qishao didn't fear poisons, it was impossible to do much against so many of them. Overwhelmed by the opposition, he could only shield Han Yunxi as he dodged incessantly. Wrapped in his tight embrace, Han Yunxi wanted to help but couldn't do a thing.
Very soon, three of the darts hit their mark in Gu Qishao's shoulder. He knitted his eyebrows, but only felt that their pain was very strange. There was no time to consider the issue, though, because he'd have to put off treating their poison until later. He bore the pain and used his whip to drive back Qingyi and the rest, taking the chance to flee to the woods behind him! The poisonous mosquito swarm and Long Feiye were in that direction. Against so many foes, he had to ask for reinforcements. Seeing that he was preparing to leave, the masked man revealed a bloodthirsty smile.
"The game ends here!" he said, closing his hand into a fist. Suddenly, Gu Qishao felt something tug at his shoulder. He cast a glance back, only to discover that the three darts buried deep into his shoulder were connected to three spider-thin threads.
These were…spider darts!
The other end of the spider darts were held in the masked man's hands, while their tips had long buried themselves in his body along with their poison! Han Yunxi was alarmed as well, seeing these things for the first time. She took out the dagger she carried along, intending to chop off those three threads, but couldn't hack through the strings.
What now?
Han Yunxi couldn't be bothered with so much and reached down to pull out the darts. As soon as she tugged, a spray of fresh blood spurted out. Most unimaginable was the fact that the darts hadn't budged, as if they'd been implanted directly into Gu Qishao's body. Han Yunxi refused to accept this and used all her strength to tug on the strings.
At this, Gu Qishao knitted his brows and spoke in a low voice, "Let it go. The poison's reached the heart."
His words frightened Han Yunxi into a cold gasp. She immediately released him. Heavens, she'd never seen this type of poison before! If she hadn't seen it before, how was she supposed to treat it? And now that it'd reached the heart, it'd kill Gu Qishao if it wasn't cured!
She started up the detox system to perform a deep system scan, but only found out that Gu Qishao's heart had been afflicted with a type of spider venom. As to which venom it was, even the detox system couldn't tell! The modern poison she'd given the masked man hadn't reacted yet, but he'd actually used a poison she didn't even recognize.
Unfathomable!
Han Yunxi suddenly realized that she'd completely underestimated this master behind the scenes. While they were left powerless, the masked man suddenly gave a sharp tug on his threads that sent them both flailing.
It's over!
At the same time, a large swarm of mosquitoes poured out from the forest to flock towards Han Yunxi. Her hand still carried the scent of the Mosquito Incense. The mosquito swarm had finally arrived!
Being able to control the poison mosquito swarms was an expert skill of these enemy assassins. Logically speaking, the masked man should be happy at this turn of events. Instead, he grew anxious and furiously hauled on the spider threads as if dreading the swarm. Unfortunately, no matter how fast his speed was, it still couldn't beat the mosquitoes.
Han Yunxi had stopped releasing the Mosquito Incense long ago, leaving nothing but traces of its scent in her palm. The mosquitoes flew frantically towards her as if they'd scented their favorite flavor of blood. Han Yunxi had forgotten completely about this swarm, but immediately started up the detox system to release more powder into the air at their arrival. Otherwise, her palm would be attacked from all sides. Just the thought was enough to leave her terrified!
At the same time that Han Yunxi released the Mosquito Incense, the swarm moved to envelop her and Gu Qishao. They were only about ten paces away from the masked man, who was still exerting his strength to drag them over. But suddenly, Gu Qishao's shoulders relaxed as the spider threads snapped!
What had happened?