Chapter 829: Han Yunxi, you won't dare to kill me
Bai Yanqing moved his hands to emit a strange aura. It almost looked like he was praying or using some martial arts technique. As his movements quickened, Han Yunxi suddenly felt the wind around them grow stronger.
“It really is the Driving Wind Arts!” Ning Cheng murmured.
The winds rose, scattering the mist. It would be impossible for Bai Yanqing to hide poison in the fog now, so it meant that he’d simply used it as a cover while scattering his poisons with wind. Since Han Yunxi and Ning Cheng had decided to make their move, they had ample preparations in place. Even if the Celestial Mountain sword sect master himself were here, it was unlikely he’d escape the 10,000 arrows from 1,000 archers unscathed!
Bai Yanqing understood this principle, so he didn’t do anything pointless. He’d simply gone straight to using poisons with the Driving Wind Arts! Only the wind was capable of reaching each and every archer. As long as he set the poison in the breeze, none of them would escape. The wind came from the south first, buffeting the hair and robes of the archers stationed there.
“Old Fiend, quick, take me into the wind!” Han Yunxi said urgently.
“Into the wind?” Gu Qishao was puzzled. Ning Cheng was lost as well.
Wasn’t Han Yunxi going to keep her eye on Bai Yanqing and stop him from poisoning the wind at any time? Why was she running into the wind now?
“Don’t waste time! Hurry up!” Han Yunxi didn’t have time to explain everything. Gu Qishao naturally did as he was told. He quickly picked her up and rose in the air behind the archers. Their figures above the wall were like a pair of startled swans in flight, capturing the attentions of Bai Yanqing and Bai Yuqiao. The archers never stopped their onslaught, while Bai Yuqiao had already been hit twice in her efforts to defend her master. She swept back another wave of arrows before looking towards Bai Yanqing.
“Master, Han Yunxi’s in Ning Cheng’s hands. We were thoroughly tricked!”
“Princess, what do you mean by this? The Wind Clan’s sincerity is as clear as the sun or moon. Why did you scheme against us?” Bai Yanqing demanded in an effort to salvage the situation.
Han Yunxi had already been brought to the edge of the wind by Gu Qishao. She floated loftily above Bai Yanqing as she chuckled. “The Wind Clan’s sincerity is as clear as the sun or moon? Why don’t you show it to me right now?”
It was perfectly excusable for Ning Cheng to fear the Wind Clan’s military might. But why would Han Yunxi be on his side? Han Yunxi was no fool. She should know that the Northern Li cavalry forces were her true hope for reviving the West Qin Dynasty. Ning Cheng shouldn’t have the skills to drive a wedge between her and the Wind Clan. If she had to choose between the Di and Wind Clans, she’d definitely pick the latter!
Bai Yanqing’s gaze grew complicated. He couldn’t figure out why Han Yunxi was picking a fight here and even meant to kill him. If this was just an act, then the reasoning was simple: she was testing the Wind Clan’s loyalties. But if she was serious, then Bai Yanqing couldn’t find any motives for her actions. The only time he showcased his Driving Wind Arts and poison skills was when rescuing Jun Yixie. How could Han Yunxi suspect anything from that?
Or did she harbor resentment from how Jun Yixie had assaulted her in the past?
“Princess, how do you want us two to express our sincerity?” Bai Yanqing asked. If possible, he didn’t want to make things worse and expose his techniques. He wasn’t planning on facing Long Feiye head on, but to make Han Yunxi do it herself. He wanted East and West Qin to be enemies for generations to come!
He wanted their enmity to endure forever. Neither East nor West deserved love or the right to love another. They never would!
Hearing Bai Yanqing’s question made Han Yunxi laugh inwardly. He’ll never figure out how I exposed the Wind Clan’s schemes. He’s probably still holding onto hope that he can bluff through all this.
Dream on!
But Han Yunxi didn’t mind fooling around with him a bit more. She raised a hand to indicate the archers should stop.
“How to express your sincerity? By showing me just how much heart your Wind Clan has,” Han Yunxi chuckled. If Ning Cheng and Gu Qishao didn’t already know the truth, they would’ve thought she was joking around with Bai Yanqing.
“Your Royal Highness, the Wind Clan Head’s 90,000 battle horses are already on their way here. Combined with Northern Li’s 10,000 steeds, the Wind Clan will have 100,000 calvarymen, enough for the princess to sweep across Cloud Realm and revive the West Qin! This is the greatest expression of the Wind Clan’s loyalty.” Bai Yanqing paused to give a long look in Ning Cheng’s direction, then added, “Princess, the Wind Clan’s loyalties are incomparable to anyone else’s. I ask that the princess be clear in her judgment!”
“So it’s like that…” Han Yunxi said meaningfully as she stretched out the sentence. “But that still can’t convince me. How’s this? You can demonstrate your sincerity by dying for Jun Yixie?”
As soon as she spoke, she signaled Ning Cheng with her eyes, and he issued orders to release the arrows without hesitation. In a flash, countless arrows rained towards Bai Yanqing’s back.
“Han Yunxi!” Bai Yanqing roared as he finally realized he’d been played. In the moment between life and death, he had no choice to think twice. Even if master and disciple worked together, there was no way to defend against the sneak attack.
Bai Yanqing immediately released his poisons! A wild gust of wind rose up to stir the clothes and hair of everyone present. In other words, everyone was now within the wind. Bai Yanqing had never been so thoroughly tricked in his life. He used the most frightening toxin at his disposal--Blood Poison!
Once the poisoned blood was carried by the wind, everything within it would be poisoned. Blood would flow from their bodies until they were drained dry. Bai Yuqiao knew that her master had made his move. Even if her sword was fast, master’s poison was faster! She ignored the incoming arrows and tugged desperately on his sleeve. “Master…”
She wanted the antidote!
But Bai Yanqing only shook her aside to stare coldly at Han Yunxi. At the same time, an arrow buried itself in Bai Yuqiao’s stomach. If she hadn’t been blocking the way, it would had pierced Bai Yanqing’s back instead. That was because this one had been shot by Ning Cheng himself.
Immediately, Bai Yuqiao fell to her knees. With wide eyes, she looked at her master as her fear morphed into a deepset hatred! Ever since she was young, she had followed and respected him like a father. In the end, her life was worth no more than a pig or dog!
Bai Yuqiao couldn’t accept this!
She used the last of her strength to pull out a dagger concealed by her leg. But she didn’t have time to extract revenge before losing consciousness. She didn’t even realize that her master’s poison in the wind had all but vanished. Bai Yanqing, however, had noticed it long ago. This was why he was glaring at Han Yunxi instead of guarding against arrows to his back!
This woman had instantly gotten rid of his poison. Or rather, she’d stored it all away. She actually cultivated to the second level of the poison storage space, Enemy Resistance!
The second level was called Enemy Resistance because it could absorb all types of poisons that threatened the owner! Bai Yanqing had used 40 whole years to break though second rank, but Han Yunxi was still young! How was this possible? Abruptly, he rose up into the air, blocking more arrows with a sword as he kept releasing poisons into the wind!
This was his only solution!
Han Yunxi had previously requested to stand in the wind just so she could be at risk of poisons and use the poison storage space. It was more effective than standing on the sidelines where the toxins wouldn’t be a threat. This was the only difference in the poison storage space between levels two and three. The third level was called Vie and Seize, which could absorb all poisons in the world at will! Neither she nor Bai Yanqing had yet to break through to that realm.
Although both of them were second rank, Han Yunxi had the advantage because she had more decades to spare to study how to break through to level three. Ning Cheng, being unfamiliar with this all, couldn’t spot the difference in levels between the duo, or even know that Bai Yanqing’s poison had been eliminated. But Gu Qishao could figure it out. He had sniffed the scent of poison as soon as Bai Yanqing made his move, but there was no time to analyze it before it vanished. In other words, no one had been truly poisoned before the toxin disappeared into thin air.
“Poison lass, where’s the poison?” Gu Qishao asked in disbelief.
“I ate it!” Han Yunxi grinned. “Take me back into the wind. Guard against Bai Yanqing, I’d like to see how long he’ll hold out!”
Gu Qishao didn’t fully understand, but he’d do whatever Poison lass said even if it was a feint! Like this, Bai Yanqing kept changing the location of the wind gap with the Driving Wind Arts while Gu Qishao took Han Yunxi to each new position. Every time Bai Yanqing used his poisons, Han Yunxi trapped him at a dead end. Bai Yanqing ended up not only having to set poisons, but deal with the thousands of archers at the same time. Soon enough, his body was littered with multiple arrows. If not for his consummate sword skills, he would have taken a shot to the heart already.
Fortunately, Gu Qishao was around to help Han Yunxi shift places instantly. Ning Cheng even forgot about the main event, Bai Yanqing, as he looked up to watch Gu Qishao carry Han Yunxi here and there. Finally, Bai Yanqing couldn’t take it anymore and demanded, “Han Yunxi, why?! Give the Wind Clan a single reason! Something to convince me thoroughly!”
Han Yunxi had to admire Bai Yanqing for remaining so calm even in the face of death while saying shameless things like “convince me thoroughly.” It really made him seem like he was innocent. But when dealing with people like him, she just had to be more shameless!
Still playfully, she said, “Alright. If you allow yourself to be seized without putting up a fight, I’ll give you a thoroughly convincing reason. How’s that?”
Bai Yanqing was so furious that he nearly spat up blood. “I’ll allow myself to be seized naturally once I’m completely convinced!” he shouted as he dodged another onslaught of arrows while blocking more with his blade. A strong burst of sword awn came from the weapon, scattering the arrows as well as their archers backwards.
Ning Cheng ordered the back row to fill in their ranks immediately, giving Bai Yanqing no chance to escape.
“Uncle Bai, it stands to reason that we should convince you first before taking you into custody. However...even if you’re not convinced, I have ways to capture you,” Han Yunxi grinned. Suddenly, Gu Qishao struck out with his hand.
If this was any other time, Bai Yanqing would have knocked away Gu Qishao’s thorny thistle seeds long ago. But he was so preoccupied with fighting off the arrows that he didn’t have a chance. Of the three seeds, two fell to the ground and grew to massive, thorny lengths to surround Bai Yanqing on all sides, although they didn’t constrict him to death. Bai Yanqing immediately poisoned the plants, but by the time they died off, the archers had already closed in with their weapons.
He gripped his sword tightly while Ning Cheng smiled coldly at him.
“Uncle Bai, your sword is fast, but this clan head promises that you can’t kill my team of thousands with one strike!”
Even if Bai Yanqing could manage to kill 100 in one blow, the other 900 would be shooting their arrows at him at the same time. At such close proximity, he would have no time to dodge.
Bai Yanqing ignored Ning Cheng completely to focus on Han Yunxi with a cold gaze. “You won’t dare to kill me, because…”