Chapter 626: The third trial (3)
Chapter 626: The third trial (3)
Han Yunxi was right about having enough time, but she’d underestimated the sinister depths of her female opponent. The woman was watching Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue advance as well. She didn’t react, almost as if she’d given up, but in truth she was waiting for the right moment.
This time, she’d like to see what Han Yunxi could possibly do to help them!
By now, Long Feiye was already halfway across the abyss, still flying high up in the air. He hadn’t used any of the wooden pegs once to give him momentum, much to the woman’s admiration. She never expected his inner energy reserves to be so fearful. She thought that he’d stop mid-way for sure to push off a few times, but he’d flown the whole way so far with a wheelchair patient in tow.
“I really can’t afford to underestimate him. Aye, it’s a pity…” the woman muttered to herself. She had always been a ruthless type, but still felt reluctant to act before such a handsome specimen like Long Feiye.
Then again, if she couldn’t have him for herself, she didn’t mind destroying him completely!
Right now, Pill King was also staring at Long Feiye from the shadows. He was perfectly clear on what the woman was planning, and his hands clutched at his beard in anxiety. He was so conflicted that he didn’t even notice the pain in his fingers from gripping so tight, nor his lack of poise in the face of what was to come. The death of the vultures had alarmed him greatly and made him give up on leaving Han Yunxi in the medical cottage at all. But he still dearly wanted to be her master—a true master who could teach her the medical arts, and leave her the cottage in the future.
Han Yunxi’s outstanding skills were something to be admired from the heart, making it impossible for anyone to give her up. The only way to salvage their master-disciple relationship now was to stop the schemes of that woman, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The rules of the Medicine Requesting Cave were beyond his jurisdiction. Since Han Yunxi and the rest had entered, they were required to finish the trials to the end!
Abruptly, Long Feiye dropped down from his flight above the pegs. Finally, he was going to look for a foothold! His foot stepped harshly against one of the pegs, because one needed more strength to gain more momentum! His plan was to push off hard enough to reach the other ledge in one final shot, because he didn’t feel safe leaving Han Yunxi waiting on the other side for too long. Han Yunxi understood the logic in that and had full confidence in his skills, but she never expected the woman to cry out as soon as his foot touched the first peg.
“Release the arrows!”
In a flash, countless arrows flew through the air at the wooden peg, splintering it into pieces. Long Feiye stepped on nothing and lost his center of gravity, sending him and Gu Beiyue plummeting three to four meters into the darkness! At the same time, the scent of incense in the air intensified to the point that it made one sneeze. The woman was simply honing in with a killing blow!
“Long Feiye!” Han Yunxi grew alarmed as she watched the men fell. With nothing to hold onto, their figures fell deeper and deeper into the abyss. “Long Feiye!” She shouted again and again, but he didn’t answer her.
Everything had happened too quickly!
“Aiya, even I don’t know what’s down there,” the woman felt a twinge of regret, but remained calm and composed in front of Han Yunxi. “But there’s one thing I’m certain of, and that’s that you lost. There’s less than half an hour left until time runs out!”
Han Yunxi could care less about that now. She clung to the edge of the edge, trying hard to look at the figures growing smaller and smaller in her vision. She kept shouting out that name, hoping that man would come back or at least tell her like before not to worry. It didn’t matter what laid at the bottom of the abyss, only that Long Feiye was stuck in the middle of it all with nothing to push off on or hold onto, only that the incense had grown thicker and sucked away more of Long Feiye’s inner energy, only that she didn’t know how long he could still hold out.
Han Yunxi was still calm enough to raise her wrist and aim it at the female examiner. “Get rid of that Skill Sealing Incense now or else this wangfei will kill you!”
This was the only way she could help Long Feiye now. After the incense was removed, Long Feiye could stop getting weaker even if he couldn’t recover his inner energy all at once. Then there’d still be hope for him.
“Are you threatening me? Heehee!” the woman covered her mouth to giggle.
“This wangfei is ordering you!” Han Yunxi snapped.
“And if I don’t?” the woman provoked her.
Instead of wasting words, Han Yunxi immediately launched her poison needles. The examiner instantly dodged, causing Han Yunxi to narrow her eyes and unleash all 33 shots in her Pear Blossom Teardrop Rain. Each needle was filled with a different type of poison, some which infected their victims upon contact with the needle, others which released poison powders into the air instead. The examiner was no martial arts expert, so she was quickly overwhelmed. Although she managed to dodge all of them, she still inhaled some of the airborne poisons and felt her skin start to unbearably itch.
“You dared to raise a hand against the examiner? Don’t think of leaving this place for the rest of your life!” the woman raged.
With Long Feiye’s life in danger, why would Han Yunxi care about that now? Even if the Heavenly Emperor was before her now, she’d break the rules all the same! “Hurry up and stop releasing the incense,” she demanded, “Or else you’ll end up just like those man-eating vultures!”
The woman wanted to endure the itching, but that was impossible. She had only scratched herself a few times before she broke through her skin. The exposed scratches immediately began to rot and fester.
Which ending of the vultures does she mean? Losing all their feathers? Or being eaten by their own kind? The woman dared not think. Scared to death, she cried, “Hurry and help me treat this poison! I’ll stop releasing the Skill Sealing Incense then!”
“You have no right to negotiate with this wangfei!” Han Yunxi snarled. She was still staring into the depths of the abyss, where Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue’s forms had grown fuzzy. There was no time to delay!
The woman couldn’t afford to delay either, but there was nothing she could do! She’d lied to Han Yunxi because she didn’t have any skills to immediately eliminate the incense. No one could, beyond waiting for the scent to dissipate naturally.
Seeing her evasive look, Han Yunxi grew alarmed. “You can’t do it?”
The examiner had no choice but to nod. “Han Yunxi, I’m the one who sets the rules for the third trial. As long as you treat my poison, I’ll definitely let you all out. I promise on my word!”
Han Yunxi grew incensed. “I’m warning you! If my husband hurts a hair on his head, I’ll tear off three layers of your skin!” She stared back into the abyss and wished that Long Feiye was still in sight, but that fuzzy figure was getting harder and harder to see. In the midst of her fear, she dropped her hand with the needles.
“He won’t die! As long as I’m alive, he won’t dare to die!” Han Yunxi said coldly. She continued to shout into the abyss. “Long Feiye, do you hear me? Say something!”
“Long Feiye!”
There was no answer. In the next instant, the fuzzy figure vanished from sight!
“No!” At last, Han Yunxi lost it and burst into tears. “Long Feiye, answer me, won’t you?!”
Last time he almost died when he’d taken a sword to the heart. At least she’d been able to see him then, and hold his hand, and even find him a doctor. But now she couldn’t help him at all. She hated herself for being so useless. With that familiar figure gone, she was nothing more than a frightened coward. Her body began to shake as she screamed like a woman gone mad.
“Long Feiye, answer me! You can come back, can’t you?”
“Long Feiye, I’m waiting for you!”
“Long Feiye, if you don’t climb up, I’m going to jump down!”
Long Feiye, I don’t even know if we’ve finished walking our 100 steps yet. How could you leave Yunxi behind?
Unfortunately, he had really disappeared. Han Yunxi laid by the cliff’s edge, looking blankly into the darkness as she muttered to herself. She was like a little child that had lost her way.
What do I do?
Yunxi’s Highness is gone.
She had forgotten how long it’d been since they’d been apart. She had been doing nothing but walking closer and closer to him so she would never leave.
“Long Feiye, you’ll come back, won’t you?”
“Long Feiye, you said you’d take me across. How could you lie to someone like that?”
“Long Feiye, if you lie to me once, I’ll treat it as 100 times! I’ll never trust you again!”
Despite her warnings, the abyss was dead silent. Her voice grew softer and softer until they dwindled into a mix of muttering whimpers. The female examiner stood on one side, scratching incessantly at her skin. She half wanted to push Han Yunxi into the abyss, but didn’t dare. The itching was almost enough to drive her mad. By now, Pill King had ran out of his hiding spot as well. He looked into the fathomless depths with a shake of his head, feeling both contrite and agitated. The sight of Han Yunxi’s grief made his heart ache.
“Lass, there’s no way to bring back the dead. You have to think for yourself now! This old man told you about the terms of the Medicine Requesting Cave before you went in, didn’t I?” Pill King strove to recover what was left of his good image.
But Han Yunxi seemed to have lost her wits, because she didn’t react to his words at all. Pill King looked towards the examiner next, his nerves aflutter. Although the Medicine Requesting Cave was part of the medical cottage, it wasn’t under his administration. They had their own governing system. If things went on and the female examiner really died, even he wouldn’t be able to convince the masters in charge to forgive Han Yunxi for her crimes.
“Lass, let’s talk this over reasonably. Help her treat her poison and this old man won’t force you stay at the medical cottage anymore, alright?” Pill King coaxed.
Han Yunxi suddenly turned to give him a murderous look. With the lesson of the examiner before him, Pill King was scared out of his wits and immediately backed off. But instead of targeting him, Han Yunxi…