Chapter 283: Asking him outright (1/2)

Chapter 283: Asking him outright

Once they stepped through the wooden door, they saw another secret passage. It wasn’t made of stone, but looked like a natural tunnel that had formed in the mountain. The inside was pitch black with no night-luminous pearls to light the way. The strange thing was that they were hit by a strong acrid odor as soon as they stepped inside. Anyone could tell that it came from a highly corrosive agent.

“This is the right way,” Long Feiye took a luminous-night pearl from the other passageway to light their path. Between going out and coming in, he could sense the marked contrast between the smell in the air. Han Yunxi had long started up her detox system and activated the deep level scanners. Despite this, she still couldn’t tell whether this scent was poisonous. Her vigilance grew along with her caution. The one thing she feared was that this was a poison the detox system couldn’t recognize. Then, they might be poisoned after inhaling too much of the air.

“Is the air poisonous?” Aunt Ru was very worried as well.

“You two stay here, I’ll go take a look.” Long Feiye was very clear-cut, but Aunt Ru held him back with a severe expression.

“Ye’er, your life is more important than anyone else’s! You can’t go!”

Actually, her words weren’t too off the mark. Long Feiye’s life was really worth a lot to the extent that he had no equal in Cloud Realm Continent. But Han Yunxi only felt that there was something off about this phrasing. She was still puzzled when Aunt Ru suddenly cried, “Han Yunxi, you go, quickly!”

She was simply ordering her around! It sounded as if her life wasn’t worth anything at all. Actually, Han Yunxi wanted to volunteer and go ahead anyways. With Lil Thing here, she’d at least have more protection than the other two. But Aunt Ru’s commanding words really left her feeling uncomfortable.

“The Perplexing Butterfly Illusion belongs to you guys. It has nothing to do with me, so why do I have to go?” Han Yunxi blurted out.

Long Feiye was about to speak up when her words made him turn silent. His expression was cold, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. But Aunt Ru immediately furrowed her eyebrows. So much for looking at Han Yunxi with new respect. So this was her attitude! Even if Long Feiye favored her and doted on her, she still couldn’t rely on that favor to act conceited! It looked like she didn’t need to interrogate Tang Li after all. They couldn’t afford to use this woman no matter how good her skills were!

Aunt Ru didn’t avoid the topic, but said outright, “Ye’er, you’ve never left useless people by your side. But as for a certain useless person, hehe…” She didn’t continue, but her chuckle was filled with significance.

‘Certain useless person?’

It was obvious that Aunt Ru was referring to Han Yunxi.

‘Hehe?’

Was she making a threat? Eliminate those who were useless? Seal their mouths?

Han Yunxi didn’t rebut, but fell silent as well. She knew that the greatest meaning of her existence to Long Feiye was how ‘useful’ she could be! She still didn’t understand why Long Feiye had saved Duanmu Yao after refusing the marriage alliance with Western Zhou. Perhaps Duanmu Yao had her uses as well.

When Aunt Ru left, the silence between Long Feiye and Han Yunxi was drawn out even more. Soon enough, Long Feiye followed Aunt Ru leaving Han Yunxi without a word. As Han Yunxi saw his retreating back, she couldn’t help but bite her lips. Even when her teeth broke through the skin, she was still unaware of anything. In the end, she still chased after them. Since we’ve already come this far, I might as well help to the very end.

By the time Han Yunxi caught up, she discovered that the tunnel led to a mountain cave which ended at an overhanging cliff. It was a very small cliff, only wide enough to fit four or five people. Above the cliff grew all sorts of unknown poisonous plants that somewhat resembled orchids, though none of them were in bloom. These were the very plants that were giving off that strong acrid odor. It was a little unbearable if one stood near the cliff for too long. Aunt Ru simply snorted when she saw Han Yunxi show up, while Long Feiye didn’t say a thing.

“These plants contain a highly corrosive poison, probably the result of crossbreeding between multiple poisonous plants. The toxin itself is located in the rhizomes, but the smell itself isn’t toxic.” Han Yunxi explained what the detox system had analyzed for her. It was capable of discerning multiple poisons within a plant, but unable to tell what poison they made up as a whole. This must have be a completely new strain of poison — at least to the detox system!

Aunt Ru ignored her, while Long Feiye nodded his head. He put on his silver thread glove and picked one of the plants, while Aunt Ru rolled up her sleeves to put it away.

“You can’t!” Han Yunxi stopped her. “Your clothes will be melted away by the corrosive agent.”

Aunt Ru coughed lightly a few times, but didn’t say a thing. Han Yunxi immediately retrieved a colored glazed box from her medical pouch and handed it to Long Feiye. “All of these plants are the same. It’ll be enough if you just pick a few of them.”

Long Feiye didn’t speak, but did as she said. He chose five to six plants to fill up the box before holding onto it personally. The clues that Aunt Ru had discovered told her that the highly corrosive plants used in the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion were located in these poison grounds. It looked like they hadn’t come in vain after all. Long Feiye withdrew his sword and chopped the giant rock blocking the entrance of the cave, thus sealing off the entrance to the cliff. Han Yunxi looked at the mess of rubble as her thoughts began to wander. It looks like the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion might be a treasure of the Poison Sect. If that’s the case, why is it in Long Feiye’s hands? If his mother’s a woman of the Tang Clan, then what about his father? Why does he keep investigating the origins of the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion? Is it related to the Poison Sect?

“It’s good to know your place, let’s go,” Aunt Ru muttered to herself, though it was obvious she meant for Han Yunxi to hear her words.