Chapter 120: Danger, a thousand pounds hangs by a thread[1] Original and most updated translations are from volare. If read elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.
The taut spider threads snapped, attracting the attention of both Gu Qishao and Han Yunxi. How could this be? Unless…
“Haha, these poison mosquitoes are the natural enemy of this spider thread! Toxic creatures can keep each other in check.” Gu Qishao laughed, holding Han Yunxi tight as he spun around in the swarm of mosquitoes. It wasn’t clear which poison he used then, but it scared off all the insects, many of which dropped dead at their feet.
Han Yunxi’s dootdootdoot alarms hadn’t stopped going off in her head. There was one alerting her to the poison mosquitoes, another to the poison spider darts, still another towards the thing that Gu Qishao was scattering in the air. The reason Gu Qishao didn’t fear the poison mosquitoes was probably because he was proficient in fighting poison with poison, a tough feat!
The same time the mosquitoes scattered, Gu Qishao held Han Yunxi as he fled with the masked man, Qingyi and the rest in hot pursuit. Dart after dart flew towards them. Compared to the mosquitoes biting their fill of Gu Qishao, he focused more on dodging the masked man’s projectiles. As long as they could enter the forest, the darts would be impeded and they’d escape faster.
Gu Qishao was travelling at extraordinary speeds. Within his embrace, Han Yunxi could even hear his powerful, rapid heartbeats. She never imagined that such a soft and gracefully attractive man could have such a virile heart. Gu Qishao’s speed was quick enough, but the masked man was also terrifyingly fast. If they hadn’t taken the chance before to gain a headstart, he probably would’ve caught up long ago.
Just as Gu Qishao was about to enter the forest, a dart flew past him to strike against a branch before rebounding back at them.
What expert throwing skills!
Gu Qishao was forced to hesitate and swerve out of the way. In a battle between experts, victory or defeat relied on a single moment of carelessness rather than a competition of strength. The second that Gu Qishao grew distracted, the masked man caught up and grabbed Han Yunxi by the arm. Gu Qishao tightened his grip on Han Yunxi’s waist and struck out with his fist, while the masked man blocked it with his other hand, gripping Han Yunxi’s arm even tighter. Han Yunxi tried her best to shake off the masked man, even biting his hand and adding more poison. Sadly, that seemed to be useless against this man.
Heaven knows whether he was a Poison Human, Poison Corpse, or Poison Gu!
Han Yunxi had no time to ponder these things. It was obvious that her strength was weaker than the masked man. She had a sudden brainwave and took out her dagger to stab him, but Qingyi’s long sword suddenly stabbed forward from the side, startling her into letting go so her hand wouldn’t be chopped off.
How horrific!
Qingyi and the rest of the black-robed assassins had caught up. Immediately, they surrounded Gu Qishao on all sides. He used one hand to hold onto Han Yunxi while the other struggled against the masked man, completely unable to deal with Qingyi and the other assassins. A sinister look flashed through Qingyi’s eyes as she twirled her blade and aimed for Gu Qishao’s eyes!
Gu Qishao was currently stuck in a deadlock with the masked man. If he wanted to avoid Qingyi’s blade, his only option was to release Han Yunxi. But once he did, she’d fall into the masked man’s hands. He’d finally managed to grab her by a lucky fluke. Doing that again would be impossible against these odds.
What to do?
Qingyi’s sword drew closer! At this critical moment, Gu Qishao was still hesitant. Suddenly, Han Yunxi shouted, ‘Let go!’ and abruptly turned to throw off Gu Qishao’s hand, kicking him out of the way. Like this, Gu Qishao fell back as Qingyi’s sword stabbed past his eyes. Meanwhile, the masked man hauled Han Yunxi to his side.
It seemed that everything was over…
But at the same time, there was the swift sound of passing wind, sooou!
An arrow flew towards the air at the masked man’s arm. It seemed to hold the strength to pierce through the Heavens and Earth, stirring the air currents around it into a violent frenzy. Its speed was akin to lightning descending from the skies and splitting bamboo, toppling the mountains and overturning the seas with its overwhelming force!
Nobody expected this to happen in the middle of all the chaos. The masked man withdrew his hand in time for the arrow to glide past his sleeve. Even though it missed its target, the force suppressed within the arrow was enough to knock him aside.
“Iridium crossbow arrow!” Qingyi cried in alarm.
Iridium was the strongest iron alloy in this world, but its use was restricted to members of the imperial house. And iridium crossbow arrows were the Duke of Qin’s exclusive weapon!
Long Feiye has arrived!
Without anyone holding on to her, Han Yunxi fell straight down, but hearing this sound made her turn around on instinct. She only saw a tall and haughty figure descend from the skies to appear behind her. He had the revered aura of an immortal and a face as cold as a demon. One hand stayed behind his back while the other kept his bow aimed at the masked man.
It was him! Long Feiye, he’d came!
He hadn’t given up on or disappointed her, but chased after the poison mosquito swarm to arrive. At this moment, Han Yunxi forgot all about her plight even though she was still falling. She wasn’t a bit afraid, but had the inexplicable urge to jump for joy. Whenever this guy showed up, she was sure to be safe.
“Long Feiye!” the masked man said in a broken voice. He was already dreading the fact that Long Feiye was following them, so he wanted to take Han Yunxi and go. Who expected Gu Qishao to interfere and delay him? He should’ve realized that the arrival of the mosquito swarm meant that Long Feiye wasn’t far behind.
Right now, the masked man was the closest one to Han Yunxi. His ferocious gaze darkened as he saw Long Feiye’s warning with the crossbow, before diving after Han Yunxi.
Swiiiiiish!
Another iridium arrow pierced through the skies as if ripping them apart, heading after the masked man. Heavens knows how much internal energy Long Feiye had put into his shot, but it was enough to amaze everyone present. Still, the masked man didn’t give up, chasing after Han Yunxi as he prepared to dodge the arrow.
Unexpectedly, Long Feiye dove down in the wake of the arrow, his face cold. The masked man’s gaze froze as he released a barrage of hidden darts behind him! It was just a few, because his motive wasn’t to shoot Long Feiye, but to spread poison. Long Feiye’s martial arts skills were exceptionally strong, but he didn’t understand poisons. They were his weakness!
“There’s poison!” Han Yunxi cried out in alarm. Right now she was only about three to four meters from the ground, about to crash at any moment. Meanwhile, the iridium arrow caught up to the masked man, who was forced to dodge out of the way and miss the chance to grab Han Yunxi’s hand. However, the poison he released scattered to settle around her.
If he couldn’t get what he wanted, then he’d rather ruin it than let it fall into Long Feiye’s hands! Unless Long Feiye stopped, he’d be poisoned as well if he kept going. Unexpectedly, Long Feiye ignored the poison in the air and kept flying down. Right as Han Yunxi was about to hit the ground, his powerful arm scooped her up and pulled her into an embrace. Soon after that, he spun his body around to land steadily with both feet on the ground. His movements carried an indescribable beauty and grace. Han Yunxi looked at his perfectly icy profile and wished that this dangerous moment would never pass.
Seeing Long Feiye dive into the cloud of poison to rescue her, the masked man was completely shocked. Did he not fear poisons? Still, there was no time to wonder about that now.
“Retreat!” he interjected.
If Long Feiye didn’t care about poisons, then none of the people present would be his match. They had to withdraw! At the same time, Gu Qishao suddenly made a surprise attack on Qingyi. Seeing this, the masked man sped over and pulled her out of the way, sending a dart in Gu Qishao’s direction. After learning his lesson the last time, Gu Qishao was still wary of these darts. He evaded quite a few before giving chase, only to find that the masked man and his compatriots had long vanished into the woods.
Gu Qishao didn’t waste time, but used his whip to aim for the straggling black-robed assassins. By now, Mu Qingwu and Guard Shangguan had caught up to join the fight. Long Feiye didn’t chase them either, but kept his sights fixated on the masked man’s retreating form. It was only after the other left that he suddenly furrowed his brows and spat up a mouthful of black blood.
The masked man’s poisons were rather ineffectual towards Gu Qishao and Han Yunxi. The latter was a poisons master. Even if she didn’t take antidote immediately, her immunity was better than other people, and poison would take longer to react for her. The former was an expert in using poisons to combat poisons, so most likely the poison powder had no effect on him. But Long Feiye was a different case. Only a short time had passed before the poison acted up inside him. The masked man had scattered too many poisons for Han Yunxi to tell which one it was right away.
“Let me go, I have to examine you quickly,” she said, expression etched with anxiety without her realization.
Long Feiye glanced at her little face and let her go without a word. Han Yunxi turned to face Long Feiye headon, immediately starting up her detox system scanners before discovering three different types of poison. Damn that masked man, were all his powders different poisons?
Seeing the blood by Long Feiye’s lip, Han Yunxi didn’t think twice before standing on her tiptoes to reach forward a hand.
Long Feiye caught it unhappily. “What are you doing?” He had an unhealthy obsession with cleanliness and hated being touched by others ever since he was young, especially on his face.
“Collecting blood samples for analysis. Only then can I tell which three poisons you’ve been infected with,” Han Yunxi was still anxious and didn’t think too deeply. Long Feiye hesitated before lowering his eyes. He didn’t look at her, but released her hand.
Han Yunxi’s pale face was filled with concentration as she stood on tiptoes again, using her index finger to lightly touch the corner of Long Feiye’s lip for some blood. Once didn’t seem to be enough, so she gave him another light touch.
Her movements were slight, her nails carefully making soft contact with the edge of his lips. It was faint and slightly ticklish, a very strange sensation. Long Feiye unconsciously lifted his eyes to look at her, but Han Yunxi was wholly focused on Long Feiye’s poison and had no idea how affectionate her actions seemed. She remained as serious as ever and withdrew her hand as soon as she collected enough samples.
When she did, Long Feiye suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of loss and disappointment.
Dammit, he’d always been mysophobic and repellant towards women touching him. But against this woman, he actually felt unsatisfied after removing the contradiction in his heart. It wasn’t enough? He wanted it to continue?!
Long Feiye instinctively rejected this loss of control and averted his gaze, turning to look in Gu Qishao’s direction. Han Yunxi was oblivious to Long Feiye’s thoughts. After she collected the blood, she immediately crouched on the ground to take out her medical pouch…
-o-
[1] a thousand pounds hangs by a thread (千钧一发) – qianjun yi fa, a saying describing imminent peril or a matter of life and death.