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Li Yaner quickly relayed the events that had unfolded prior in just a few words. Gu Shi Yi listened intently, and after a moment of thought, she suddenly burst out laughing and, slapping her thigh, said,
"Haha, serves her right to be unlucky. The old guy once said that as long as I don't willingly give up the mirror, even a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage would have a hard time seizing it from me!"
However, Gu Shi Yi couldn't quite understand why the mirror had suddenly emitted a white light and burned the old woman. But now wasn't the time to dwell on such thoughts!
She tested her limbs and, finding them a bit weak but otherwise okay, jumped down from the table and cautiously approached the woman. The old woman had suffered severe burns, yet she still had a breath in her. As she saw Gu Shi Yi awake, she began to mutter something, her lips moving slowly. Gu Shi Yi, not daring to get closer, simply watched from a distance until she was able to read the woman's lips,
"You're saying you have elixirs upstairs that can save you?"
The old woman moved her lips again, but Gu Shi Yi's expression grew colder,
"You wanted to harm my life; what makes you think I would save you!"
Once more, the old woman's lips twitched, and Gu Shi Yi scoffed,
"Do you think I would believe you? You are a Great Cultivator, and I'm merely a mere mortal. Today is your bad luck; you brought this upon yourself. If I were to feed you the elixirs, and you recovered your mana, the one in trouble would be me!"
The old woman's lips moved rapidly again, but Gu Shi Yi shook her head,
"You say to swear on your inner demon? How would I know if you've really made an oath, and besides..."
Even if you truly swore an oath, what then?
Once you've recovered, a mere glance from you would be enough for even your maids to easily take my life. No matter how deadly your oath, you wouldn't be afraid of retribution!
Gu Shi Yi shook her head once more, no longer looking at the woman on the ground, turned around, and picked Little Mud Man from the table,
"Yanyan, let's go!"
Little Mud Man nodded and pointed toward the corner,
"The Jade Token is still there!"
Gu Shi Yi went to pick it up, then with Li Yaner, strode to the door, only to be stopped by a greenish Light Shield before them,
"Shiyi..."
Li Yaner gestured towards the corner where the Formation Flags were,
"She set up this Formation; we can't leave without pulling out the Formation Flags!"
Gu Shi Yi nodded and went to the corner as instructed, yanked the Formation Flags out with force, and the greenish Light Shield immediately buzzed and disappeared. Gu Shi Yi glanced at the old woman on the ground once more and said,
"Don't blame me; if anyone's to blame, it's your own greed. I'm just protecting myself!"
The old woman's lips moved frantically, but Gu Shi Yi was no longer interested in looking and stepped out. Once outside the garden and back into the rear building, she was grateful that the Formation that was set up previously had been disabled by the woman who brought her in; otherwise, she would've been helpless to leave.
Gu Shi Yi opened the front door of the Hundred Herbs Pavilion, rushed out with Li Yaner, and hurriedly left the main street, returning to the wall they had arrived at. This wall only controlled entrance but not exit; she effortlessly passed through it and found herself back on the mortal streets.
Seeing the ordinary people bustling about, indistinguishable from herself, Gu Shi Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief,
"Yanyan, we must leave this place as quickly as possible!"
Great Cultivators had countless tactics; although the old woman appeared gravely injured, she was not yet dead. There was no telling if she could recover and come after Gu Shi Yi; that would be disastrous!
Without further ado, she hurried off to find the waiting carriage,
"Let's go, quickly!"
The carriage driver of the Huang Residence, having waited the whole day, finally saw the esteemed guest returning and immediately replied, cracking his whip to drive the carriage toward the Huang Residence.
By the time Gu Shi Yi returned to the Huang Residence, it was already dark. Sixth Master Huang himself came out to welcome her and smilingly said,
"Miss Gu, have you finished your task?"
Gu Shi Yi nodded. On the way back, she had steadied her nerves and carefully considered the entire sequence of events. By the time she faced Sixth Master Huang, she was composed and showed no signs of having just undergone a life-threatening ordeal,
"Haha, thanks to Sixth Master's blessings, I finished the task smoothly!"
She said, bowing toward Sixth Master Huang.
She wasn't wrong; she had delivered the item into the woman's hands, thus fulfilling the commission from the Shang surname. Whether the old woman could return the item to the hands of the Shang surname was no longer Gu Shi Yi's concern!
Sixth Master Huang, unaware of the details, joyfully said,
"In that case, I invite Miss Gu inside the residence so we can discuss further!"
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