*Pant
*Pant
*Pant
Jiang Cuiyi chased her breath as she descended from the mountain top and found herself in the entrance of Wenxi city. The eminent calamity was evaded 3 days ago after Xiniang managed to absorb the aromatic heart arrowroot inside her body. What's left now is, how can she survive the final ordeal.
"Miansu, I am certain that I cannot fail, I cannot fail this time!" She clasped her hands and continued treading on the ground without shoes on wearing torn clothes pretending to be helpless and scornful.
Soon, she reached the palace entrance finding Na Yingluo standing in front of her with eyes full of compassion and pity.
"Hey, are you alright? What happened to you?"—Yingluo
"Please— help... Me..." —Cuiyi
She was already exhausted, tired and hungry after walking many miles just to reach the kingdom of jade phoenix. But deep inside her heart she knew... It was a necessary thing to do to make the act more convincing.
Yingluo called the guards hurriedly and helped to carry the woman inside the palace quarters.
Lu Jie stared at the trail of blood left from the stranger's wound on her body. It reeks of poison.
"Lu Jie, what are you staring at?"—Yingluo
"Nothing..." —Lu Jie
As soon as Yingluo left and attended to the wounded and poor woman, Lu Jie took off a gourd from her sleeve and released a little centipede to confirm the poison on the blood of the woman.
As the centipede touched the blood, it suddenly turned to stone and crumbled into pieces. Lu Jie's eyes grew.
"This isn't good. I must tell Wei Yue."
—————————
Yingluo attended to the poor wounded stranger by cleaning her wound first and disinfecting it. She asked the servants to prepare some extra clothes for the stranger to wear and changed the clothes of the woman herself. Even before as a beggar in the streets, she saw herself on the woman when she and Moxiao have to beg for food and live on the slums.
A while later, the woman awoke with a startled look on her face while looking at Yingluo.
"Who are you? Where am I?" —the woman
"I am Na Yingluo. You are in my private quarter inside the kingdom of jade phoenix."—Yingluo
"Yingluo.... Thank you for saving me but I need to leave immediately. I am afraid that I am a nuisance here."—the woman
"Oh no no... Not at all... Don't leave yet. You need to replenish your body and eat first before you go."—Yingluo
"But—" -the woman
"It's okay... Nobody's being a nuisance here especially if someone is needing food and accomodation."—Yingluo
"Why did you save me?"—the woman
"Because... I saw myself in you... When I lost my family after being torn in a war, I and my brother Moxiao begged for food and lived in the slums. Until, the duke of Dragon blade found us and made us into fearsome assassins to do his bidding."—Yingluo
Cuiyi saw a tear fell from the side of Yingluo's eye. She was certain that Yingluo wasn't telling a lie unlike Wan Miansu who deceived her into taking the poison in exchange for greater power, Yingluo's approach was far more gentle than Miansu's.
"What? Tears?" Cuiyi's eyes are tearing up without even realizing it. Something inside her changed after Yingluo manifested her compassion towards her.
"So, I've told you my name, what's yours?" —Yingluo
"My name— is... Wan Jing... Jing..." —Cuiyi
She pretended to have a different name since it will be risky to expose her name to Yingluo. Luckily, she was in disguise with a different face or else... If she'd find out that she was Jiang Cuiyi she will execute her right away...
*Knock
*knock knock
"Your highness Yingluo, you are needed by emperor Wei Yue." —Lu Jie
"Oh, okay I'll be right there." — Yingluo
Yingluo left the room and there's only Lu Jie and Cuiyi inside. Cuiyi pretended to lie down on the bed because of pain and faced the wall instead of Lu Jie.
"Why didn't you tell me that you're poisoned with Wan Miansu's poison?"
Jiang Cuiyi scrambled and seated on the bed with eyes wide open. Lu Jie's tone became more serious.
"You made a deal with the demoness? I supposed you sought for great power right?" —Lu Jie
"I don't know what you're talking about! Who is Wan Miansu?" —Cuiyi
"Why don't you stay still and I'll confirm if you really colluded with her?"—Lu Jie
With Lu Jie's empath ability, she can rob someone with any sense of feelings taking hold of their misery and memories. Cuiyi was aware with Lu Jie's ability and tried to distance herself.
"Just as I thought." —Lu Jie
Within a split second, Cuiyi conjured twin daggers on both of her hands and crossed blades with Lu Jie's sword. The tips of their blades crossed with each other like rain touching the ground.
Their movements was fast to be seen by a mortal. Lu Jie's hand moved freely like a crane flying across the vast sky which made Cuiyi deduced that she can't defeat the villian by just fighting with her directly.
"I need to think of a plan to divert her attention and get away from here." Cuiyi thought inwardly. Lu Jie isn't her mission.
Gripping one of her daggers, she slashed a wound on her palm and conjured a red smoke making Lu Jie cover her face and closing her eyes. In an instant she managed to escape far away from the area where they fought.
Realizing that her enemy escaped, Lu Jie clenched her hand and gritted her teeth.
"I must warn all of them. An intruder compromised us."
-----------------------
Gu Xiniang laid motionless on the bed with eyes wide awake. She stared at the ceiling that has been embroidered with two phoenixes encircling a flame. It has been three days since the aromatic heart arrowroot entered inside her. Her condition improved after a few days when she cultivated back into her original Illusory divine jade internal skill. The meridians inside her body had been repaired by the aromatic heart arrowroot allowing qi to flow back more naturally.
She got up and sat on the bed positioning herself in a lotus position and conjuring handsigns to cultivate once more but the silence was broken when a woman wearing a sky blue robe barged inside the room pointing a dagger on Xiniang.
With her reflex, Xiniang was caught off guard because of the sudden attack and wounded the side of her left arm. Obviously the attacker seemed to be aiming for her chest where the heart arrowroot was stuck and is the vulnerable part of her body.
"You know the aromatic heart arrowroot is inside my chest, who are you?" —Xiniang
"None of your business, I just want you dead and I'll be free of my suffering!"—woman
"Let's see who dies first."—Xiniang
Xiniang summoned her divine weapon, Tear of the Flower Goddess into a form of hidden weapon in her hand.
Maintaining a proper distance, Xiniang threw most of her attacks at Cuiyi. Their blades crossed with each other yet the difference of power was evident. Xiniang is in the upperhand since her fighting style and cultivation improved greatly. Cuiyi only can attack her by getting close but for Xiniang's breakthrough, it was impossible to attack her close enough.
"No! I musn't lose!"—Cuiyi
She had two options in her head. One, she can continue to avoid Xiniang's attack and be stuck fighting for a long time or...
Risk it all by throwing the daggers to assault Xiniang but sacrificing her life in the process.
"There is no other way." — Cuiyi
Cuiyi jumped as high as she can and threw the daggers to Xiniang. In a slow motion, the twin daggers flew flawlessly in the air but Xiniang had already forseen it coming. With a mighty swing of her hand she positioned her weapon releasing three needles towards Cuiyi.
The two needles hit the daggers but the remaining one flew straight to Cuiyi hitting her forehead.
The needle dug deep inside piercing her head.
"Thank you..."
Cuiyi said her last words as her body slowly turned into ashes.
Xiniang turned away with a sad reaction all over her face...
"You're welcome."