Chapter 551: I won’t forgive you the second time around (2/2)

Long Feiye only said coldly, “How is this lordship supposed to estimate your worth when you haven’t told us anything yet?”

“I’m certain Your Highness must be curious about the Chu Clan’s purpose in coming to the Poison Sect’s forbidden grounds,” the old woman replied.

“Fine, your lordship can spare your life,” Long Feiye agreed easily.

Delighted, the old woman spilled everything. “I’m one of the Chu Clan’s poisons masters. One year ago, I accepted orders to stand guard here to lay traps for your arrival.”

“How did Chu Tianyin know we’d come back?” Han Yunxi grew curious.

“Because of the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons. Young Master Yin brought a few poison masters who found the earth in the secret tunnels. He discovered you hadn’t taken any of it away, only blocked the way with rubble, so he guessed you’d come back,” the old woman explained.

Actually, this was all a misunderstanding. Han Yunxi and the rest didn’t even know this was Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons when they came here last. If they did, they would’ve taken everything with them already. But instead of revealing that, Han Yunxi only asked, “Chu Tianyin knows about the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons?”

Even she wouldn’t have known without Gu Qishao telling her about it first. This tidbit hadn’t been recorded in any of the poison scriptures. Perhaps it only existed in Cloud Realm Continent. The old woman only shook her head. She’d only heard rumors herself. “I’m not clear. It’s possible that the Witch Aunt1 told him.”

“Witch Aunt? Who’s that?” Long Feiye asked.

“Young Master Yin’s most formidable poisons master,” the old woman revealed.

Han Yunxi seemed to faintly recalled a record of this name in the biographies of Cloud Realm Continent. She never expected Chu Tianyin to have connections with Tianning’s inner workings and its poison circles as well. That man’s quite ambitious. His background’s extraordinary as well!

“Why did you guys set the fire?” Long Feiye asked. This was the one thing he hadn’t figured out. There was no need for flames with all these other traps here.

The old woman fell silent.

“Are you telling us or not?!” Long Feiye was impatient.

“Your Highness Duke of Qin, I can tell you everything, but you can’t go back on your promise,” the old woman was still afraid in the end.

“Your lordship won’t go back on my words!” Long Feiye said coldly.

Only then did the old woman relax. “It was Young Master Yin who set the fires! He happened to be here when Gu Qishao entered the tunnels, so he set fires first to cut off Gu Qishao’s exit, then to lure you all here…”

Long Feiye suddenly narrowed his eyes. “So Chu Tianyin’s still hiding in these underground rooms!” He’d killed all the archers, but hadn’t seen any sign of the man. As it turned out, he’d hidden himself away.

“This is the best place for attacking with fire, may Your Highness Duke of Qin take caution.” For the sake of preserving her life, the old woman was quite willing to cast everything aside and help Long Feiye instead. When she saw his icy expression, her heart filled with dread as she hastily added, “There’s a third reason as well, to destroy the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons. The Witch Aunt’s said it before, if the rock and soil temperatures exceed a certain threshold, all of the toxicity in the dirt will disappear.”

As soon as she spoke, a tongue of flame surged out from the depths of the tunnel. Someone was attacking with fire! Greatly alarmed, Long Feiye prepared to take Han Yunxi and run, but the person outside had used a particular fuel to feed the fire so that it quickly expanded. The space they had was limited, so it was impossible to bypass the flames. Even Long Feiye had his moments of misjudgement! It was likely Chu Tianyin had already slaughtered his crack troops stationed outside while he was on his way to rescue Han Yunxi. Now the fire was here to block their own way out.

The old woman grew alarmed, because the fire trapped her here as well. Abruptly, Long Feiye pulled out the sword stuck through her foot and swiped upwards, killing her abruptly. Forget about promises made in good faith. Even if he was labeled a liar, he’d never forgive anyone who threatened his woman’s life! As Long Feiye stared at the rising flames and considered rushing through them, Han Yunxi cried out.

“Gu Qishao’s going to jump!”

She’d almost forgotten about the man after Long Feiye arrived, but remembered again once the old woman mentioned the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons.

“Long Feiye, Gu Qishao’s over there. He’s got the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons with him! Quick! Stop him!” Han Yunxi pulled Long Feiye’s hand and pointed below them, revealing the deep cliffs that waited at the end of all of the tunnels. Although it was hard to tell from a distance, both of them could see the speck of red standing by the cliff’s edge, getting ready to jump.

Is he planning to protect the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons this way? As the thought flashed through his head, Long Feiye shouted, “Gu Qishao!”

But the winds were too strong and carried his voice away. Right now, Gu Qishao really was planning to jump. He had the Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons hidden in his mouth but could still feel the intense heat assaulting him. If he didn’t jump down to escape the flames, there would be no more Earth of Ten-Thousand Poisons in this world.

“Gu Qishao! We’re over here! Over here!” Han Yunxi was desperate to the point of tears.

Without a choice, Long Feiye could only….

1. Witch Aunt (巫姨) – Wu yi, in which Wu is a surname that also means “witch, shaman, wizard.”