บท 43: Three Steps Ahead
"Even if we have a truce, I won't go soft on you. Look at me again in that way, and I'll dig your eyes out." Hongyue warned. Her voice was cutting through the air like ice.
Qingyu stared back at the spot where he had been, in shock; luckily, he was fast enough. If not, his hand would have been missing, and his limbs mangled. There was a crater next to the bed, pieces of debris disbanded around the newly made hole. While he was able to dodge her attack easily, he was still astonished she had such good control over a weapon that was specially made for him by himself under such a small amount of time.
On the other hand, Hongyue frowned, how was this rascal still so agile while injured?
She skillfully retracted the whip and ran her finger over the folds, lightly tapping the rims of the curves. Each tap let out a faint click, which played like music to her ears. She dropped her eyes, debating.
Having weaponry was going to be quite valuable in an unfamiliar world. Hongyue couldn't always rely on her powers; after all, she couldn't always take a step back to cover up her abilities. Doing that was a waste of time and effort. Something like this armament was fast to pull out and attack with which was also easy to hide her true capabilities. The fluency of the lashing motion was quite similar to the way she would use her water forms to attack, so Hongyue quite fancied this weapon.
"I like it," She finally stated.
QingYu nearly wanted to roll his eyes. Of course, she likes it. He bet she'll love it even more if she had been able to shred his wrist apart. Since she wanted it, the truce would stand, so Qingyu nodded his head, acknowledging. However, he was still bitter about her attack at him, so he scowled at her with amnesty.
Seeing him glare at her, Hongyue spat out the answer, "For fun."
QingYu was speechless.
Suddenly, Hongyue snapped her head at the door. She could sense someone coming to her courtyard. Glaring, she turned to QingYu.
"I don't have time to play with you. Leave." She commanded.
Qingyu nearly wanted to spit blood. Was this really how you treated your allies? However, he appeared to have considered something else and smirked at her.
"Oh, are you in trouble?" He taunted.
The loud explosion from her attack was not invisible. Who wouldn't be able to feel the ground-shaking forces? It was possible that the general detected it and came back to check on the matter.
"Do you need my help?" Qingyu offered.
Hongyue simply glanced at him with disdain. No need was written all over her face.
"You should worry about yourself more. Leave." She retorted.
Qingyu tsked before he swung his injured body out of the back window. As his foot reached the ground, he moaned in pain. It felt as though his bones were fragmented, and his blood could not stop boiling inside his veins. While in her room, he only acted indifferently to keep up his font. Now, as he stumbled out, his eyes widened.
Qingyu stretched his hands out in excitement, feeling a misty barrier around the courtyard. Before he touched it, it seemed to fade into the air as if it was being called back to the owner, fading into nothing. However, Qingyu knew that the barrier he just saw was the reason Hongyue was so calm.
It seemed like she had everything plotted out the whole time. She had never used her full power to attack him. It was a game.
She was just playing with him.
No, she was testing him!
Despicable!
If he knew, he wouldn't have given her his bracelet. As he trod on in pain, his once innocent expression turned darker with each step. It was no longer playful; however, his eyes still gleamed with interest. Shortly, his figure faded away into a dark mist as he walked, and his person vanished. Nothing was left, as though he never been there.
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Qingyu had been right.
Hongyue had held back considerably. She only desired to test him, so she established an air barrier when she stomped her foot to block any of the explosion from leaking out. Not to mention, most of her power came from within her pearl, so even if she used her full strength, outsiders wouldn't be able to detect anything since it didn't change any of the outer environment. She had only designed the whole thing to test him.
Still, she looked at the jewelry in her hands; her eyes shimmered in joy as she flipped the new toy on her wrist.
It didn't matter if Qingyu didn't tell her everything, nor did the alliance matter to her.
In truth, Hongyue didn't trust Qingyu.
Not even a little bit.
However, she was confident in her powers, and she had an ultimate trump card in her hands if anything advanced out of her plans.
While she did take back the poison, she never took back her own drop of blood. Sending the attack at Qingyu was only a disguise. The real purpose wasn't to injure him but to activate a hex on him with her blood drop that was inside him. Nonetheless, the injury served well as a distraction.
Nevertheless, cheating this weapon from him was also just an extra something she didn't expect to get. As she cleared her mind, she reached out to her left blue eye and calmly drew a rune in front of it. The rune sank into her eye before her appearance reverted back to the little good for nothing miss of the manor.
Hongyue grimaced at the crater on the ground. She swiftly marched over and booted the corner of the bed. The bed thumped against the wall, and the quilt slipped down, entirely blanketing the crater. It wouldn't have been a big deal anyway, after all, she was convinced the person arriving was the doctor or an aide.
By now, the general should be deep into her trap. Nevertheless, just in case, like what general said that night: she'll have to produce contaminated blood to be entirely spared from death. With his degree of distrust, she'll just have to play along.
Hongyue sneered.
That was her specialty.
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