Bai Xiangxiu shook her head. This wasn’t the time to be brash. Everyone remained silent for a moment before one of Long Heng’s trusted aides spoke up, “Let me charge in to take a look. Even if it’s a trap, there will only be one death.”
“No one is allowed to die!” Bai Xiangxiu stood up straight. “If only the black devil’s snare was here.” I can go in as I’d like and nobody can get in my way.
“Is that the black flower that you love so much?” Yu Kuang asked.
“Yes. It’s such a pity that I left it behind in Tranquil City.”
“It won’t be there any longer. I’ve instructed one of my junior disciples to bring the flower here. It should be arriving soon!”
“Ah… Yu Kuang, why have I never realized how cute you are!” Bai Xiangxiu was jumping for joy and couldn’t help but praise him a little. Sweat dripped down Yu Kuang’s forehead. Was that supposed to be praise? However, he still felt very appreciated, despite knowing that she loved someone else.
Song Jiaoyue was shocked when he learned about the abilities of a black devil’s snare. He never imagined that a plant could possibly have such magical properties. Newly confident, Bai Xiangxiu outlined her plan. “I can freely enter and exit the place as long as I water the plant with my blood. Nobody will be able to stop me.”
“But the effect only works in the area around you. What if there’s a trap…” Song Jiaoyue furrowed his brows.
“Just leave the rest to me,” Yu Kuang quickly interjected. After the details of the plan had been finalized, all that was left was to wait for the black devil’s snare. The junior disciple from Whitecloud Mountain was the center of attention when he arrived with the flower in his hands. It almost seemed like he was carrying some incredibly important treasure instead of just a flower pot.
Bai Xiangxiu grabbed the flower from his hands and put it on a table. She marveled at how amazing the black devil’s snare was. It hadn’t even wilted the tiniest bit despite having travelled such a long distance. It now had some magical properties since it had already been fed her blood. She reached her hands out towards the flower. The wounds from last time were still there. She gave her hand to Song Jiaoyue and said, “It’s a little difficult for me to do it myself. Why don’t you help me!”
“Why don’t you just let me do it instead?” Song Jiaoyue replied.
“We’d better not. The plant has already accepted my blood and fulfilled my wish once. It’d be more secure for me to do it myself.”
“As you wish,” Song Jiaoyue never imagined that there would come a day where he’d have to harm her. However, he still raised his knife and gently drew it across her palm.
Blood began to drip from her hands. However, something very strange occurred. The droplets of blood that fell on the plant were instantly absorbed the plant. “That’s strange. It used to absorb the blood like how a normal plant would via soil. Doesn’t it seem like it’s incredibly thirsty?”
“Will it harm you?”
“It shouldn’t” Bai Xiangxiu had a deep trust towards plants. She allowed the blood to flow and only withdrew her hands when her wounds eventually stopped bleeding. Song Jiaoyue quickly bandaged her wounded hands, “How long must you do this?”
“It should take about two days. We can use this chance to surveil the place.”
“Alright, leave it to me. I was their original target anyways.” Even though Song Jiaoyue was Long Heng’s friend and wouldn’t hesitate to help him in his time on need, his enthusiasm right now was almost certainly due to the woman beside him right now. However, he felt a little melancholic when he realized the possibility that they might never meet again after Long Heng was rescued. He used the two remaining days to sort out everything that he needed to do, while Bai Xiangxiu continued to water the black devil’s snare.
With two days of watering, the plant had become quite the eerie-looking flora. It had drunk so much blood, it had turned almost purple-ish black. Bai Xiangxiu put on some makeup and made her way to the Imperial Justice Dungeons with the potted plant in her hands. She made sure that no innocent party would be implicated before she slowly started to walk towards the Imperial Justice Dungeon’s entrance. Song Jiaoyue and Yu Kuang remained ten steps behind, but even their eyes widened as what seemed like a miracle occurred. Every person who came within ten steps of her dropped to the ground in a dead faint. It didn’t matter if they held any ill intentions or just wanted to ask why she was here, there were no exceptions. Even the ten guards at the entrance fell at her feet.
Song Jiaoyue and Yu Kuang were sweating profusely. This was simply too illogical! It would seem that this harmless looking woman was not as harmless as she seemed. Song Jiaoyue’s intelligence didn’t speak of any ambushes inside, but they soon realized that it truly was a trap when they went deeper into the building. Not only was the place filled with hidden guards, there were experts from the wulin lying in wait as well. Fortunately, they all fainted dead away before they could even get near Bai Xiangxiu. On the other hand, Yu Kuang’s men took care of the concealed weapons experts. Unfortunately, Bai Xiangxiu soon found herself very lost!
There was nothing they could do about it. This prison was simply too complicated and everyone within ten feet of her fainted before she could ask for directions! She could only look at Song Jiaoyue ten steps away from her and reveal a very helpless look. He had no choice but to point the way for her. This girl is surprisingly muddle-headed at times.
Bai Xiangxiu smiled apologetically. She soon arrived at a door in the corner of the prison by following his instructions. There were supposed to be guards in front of the door, but they had been incapacitated by the black devil’s snare. She opened the door and someone actually charged towards her with a pike in his hands. However, that person soon took a nose dive as soon he passed the ten steps mark. The guards behind him assumed that she had some sort of hidden weapon and retreated en masse. It’d be fine as long as they didn’t attack. After all, there’s no way a hidden weapon would work when attacking preemptively, right? Moreover, they were grouped up while she was just one woman! Unfortunately, their numbers didn’t matter as they all fainted away as soon as she reached within ten steps of them.
Bai Xiangxiu didn’t know where Long Heng was, so she had no choice but to search the cells one by one. Finally, she found some of her husband’s men. These were all men who had followed Long Heng back to the capital. Bai Xiangxiu was filled with joy. She’d planned on asking them for Long Heng’s location but they all immediately fainted when they saw her. Are you kidding me? This ability is so frustrating! Bai Xiangxiu was truly speechless now.
However, this was proof that Long Heng was probably being kept here as well. They’d probably released the information to lure Bai Xiangxiu and the rest in, and baited the trap with the real person to make doubly sure. But they’d probably never imagined that Bai Xiangxiu would have such a cheat that would render their trap so useless. In a corner of the hallway, she finally found a flight of stairs leading down.
Bai Xiangxiu wanted to go downstairs to take a look. There was a possibility that Long Heng was locked in a cell down there.
“Go hide in one of the empty cells here. Let me do it.”
Bai Xiangxiu nodded, quickly unlocking a nearby cell with a key she’d found and hiding inside. A moment later, she saw Song Jiaoyue and Yu Kuang’s men run past, with Yu Kuang taking the lead. Step by step, they walked down the flight of stairs to investigate, only to be attacked by hidden weapons out of nowhere. Yu Kuang quickly used his sword to deflect the hidden weapons, but the barrage of attacks almost seemed endless. His swordplay was quick, but it wasn’t invincible.
“Step back. Allow me,” One of Long Heng’s trusted aides had brought one of the metal shields that they’d previously used in battles. If it were any other person, the shield would’ve been almost impossible to lift, let alone wield. However, this man was born with unimaginable strength. The pathway was narrow enough for him to use the shield to protect everyone behind him. The hidden weapons were incredibly powerful, but they couldn’t penetrate an iron shield.
“Keep the shield raised and charge to the front!” Song Jiaoyue yelled as everyone was took cover behind the shield. The trusted aide roared loudly and charged forward, keeping the shield raised. His strength was so immense that he still managed to pick up speed even while his shield was being battered by the hidden weapons. Leaving the enemies aside for the moment, Song Jiaoyue and the assault team was incredibly surprised by how powerful he was. It seemed that Long Heng had picked the cream of the crop when he’d assigned men to protect Bai Xiangxiu.
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