Chapter 972: There really is a door (1/2)

When Han Yunxi looked back, both men shut up. Long Feiye kept staring straight ahead with an expressionless face while Gu Qishao threw his arms behind his head with a piece of sogon grass dangling out of his mouth. He looked at the side of the path, his face full of swagger. With Gu Qishao’s personality, anyone who walked by him looked set for a beating. Of course, Long Feiye was an exception. He’d long turned into one of Gu Qishao’s creditors.

Han Yunxi glanced between them and rolled her eyes. She was too lazy to bother with the pair and walked back to join Gu Beiyue and Baili Mingxiang.

“Princess, His Highness and him…” Gu Beiyue asked doubtfully.

“I bet they were probably incompatibly from birth,” Han Yunxi chuckled.

Gu Beiyue smiled back, but he quickly turned serious. “Princess, you can still depend on Qishao to do his job.”

In fact, besides his treatment of Mu Linger, Gu Qishao was very dependable on matters of principle. If not for him fooling around with Myriad Merchant Hall or rescuing Gu Beiyue, they might still be at Three-Way Black Market this day.

As they walked on, Han Yunxi suddenly recalled the pot of noodles she’d made last night. Teasingly, she asked, “How did that bowl of noodles taste last night?”

If the shadow guard hadn’t come by to report, Han Yunxi would never believe that Gu Beiyue had finished off an entire bowl.

Gu Beiyue was quite discerning. “It would taste better with a bit more salt.”

Han Yunxi looked at him doubtfully before she finally managed to say, “Gu Beiyue, you’ve made progress!”

“Hm?” Gu Beiyue was clueless.

“You know how to flatter people now!” Han Yunxi declared. Gu Beiyue’s answer was perfect: it neither embarrassed her or seemed too fake. Anyone who hadn’t seen the tragic state of those noodles firsthand would assume Han Yunxi’s cooking was alright after his statement. Even she felt better after hearing his words and felt that she wasn’t as terrible as she thought.

On one side, Baili Mingxiang couldn’t help but burst into laughter. This was the first time the princess had ever satirized Doctor Gu. When Han Yunxi looked over, she immediately ducked her head and realized she’d been rude. Han Yunxi stared at her for a long time before she finally said, “Mingxiang.”

“Here,” Baili Mingxiang looked up.

Han Yunxi walked over with a grin. “When we go back, I’ll find you for cooking tips and make Gu Beiyue a few more dishes to try.”

Seeing Han Yunxi smile, Baili Mingxiang finally stopped tensing up and being cautious. She nodded her head in delight. “Alright!”

Gu Beiyue smiled soundlessly, content beyond compare.

With Han Yunxi behind them, Long Feiye and Gu Qishao had no more chances to keep “arguing.” Soon enough, he stopped to wait for her to catch up. As soon as Han Yunxi reached his side, he took her hand and entwined their fingers tightly together. Gu Qishao circled around to Han Yunxi’s other side so they were walking shoulder-to-shoulder. Ignoring Long Feiye’s vicious glare, he wore a bright and dazzling smile.

If it was a contest of shamelessness, Long Feiye was his inferior. As soon as Long Feiye pulled Han Yunxi to his other side, Gu Qishao followed along until he was walking next to Long Feiye. Behind them, Gu Beiyue, Baili Mingxiang, Xu Donglin and the rest of the guards were all laughing to themselves.

Just like that, the group moved as a happy wave towards the Poison Sect’s sacrificial altar.

Of course, by the time they got there, they turned serious. Although the stele had undergone a scary transformation in Han Yunxi’s dream, it currently had no changes from where they left it last. Gu Qishao went over and was instantly captivated by the poison plants in the color glaze wall. These were the prettiest plants he’d seen. Their stems and leaves were transparent and shone with a faint, colorful light. Their dreamlike, illusory quality made them seem unreal. He had never seen such plants before, so he couldn’t tell whether they were poisonous. But judging from his experiencing cultivating medicinal plants, he could guess that these specimens had been alive for a very long time.

“Poison lass, these plants should have lived for a least a couple hundred years,” Gu Qishao remarked.

“A couple hundred years? Then did someone recently pick their fruits?” Han Yunxi asked. She was very professional when it came to distinguishing poisons, but not the age of plants. If not for the detox system’s analysis, she wouldn’t be able to tell with her eyes alone.

“The fruits were plucked at least 10 years ago!” Gu Qishao observed.

“How can you tell?” Long Feiye couldn’t help asking.

Gu Qishao only looked at him with a chuckle. “Heheh!”

It wasn’t that easy to goad Long Feiye. He snorted coldly and said, “You must have saw the wrong thing.”

By contrast, it was extremely easy for Long Feiye to provoke Gu Qishao. He immediately rebutted, “I can’t be wrong. Judging from the thickness of the rootstock, the size and color of the leaves, and the edges of a few others, you can differentiate between various plants. I can only give a rough estimate, not an accurate guess. And also--”