Chapter 491: He Will Take Her Life Sooner or Later
"It’s too dangerous for you to go in alone."
"I’ll be careful and hide well. You can be my backup on the outside."
Seeing that Jin Ling had already made his decision, Xijing didn’t try to persuade him further.
"Be careful."
Jin Ling nodded. After arranging a meeting spot with Xijing, he took the bone tablet and turned into a stone house by the street. When he reemerged, he had changed into a brand-new animal hide garment. He had also sprinkled himself with a powder to conceal his aura and smeared his body black with pot soot.
Xijing waited outside the stone house for a while before seeing a tall figure walk out. If he wasn’t extremely familiar with Jin Ling, he wouldn’t have recognized the person before him as Jin Ling at all.
Their eyes met for a brief moment, and then Jin Ling was at the main gate of the palace.
The beast soldiers guarding the palace immediately stepped forward to block him.
With an impassive expression, Jin Ling produced the bone tablet.
The beast soldier glanced at the bone tablet and, without a single question, let him pass.
Compared to the palace in Beast King City, the palace in Tiger Beast City was somewhat smaller.
Jin Ling looked at the familiar palace before him as if a lifetime had passed.
He didn’t hurry toward Jin Wei’s palace. Instead, he bypassed the sections patrolled by large numbers of beast soldiers, making his way to a very remote courtyard within the palace grounds.
He looked around, and after confirming that no one was nearby, he nimbly scaled the stone wall and entered the courtyard where the stone house was.
The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, looking as if no one had been there for a very long time.
There were two stone houses inside, which looked extremely dilapidated from their mottled outer walls.
Jin Ling, moving with practiced ease, pushed open the door and walked in. The furnishings inside were simple, or rather, practically nonexistent. The entire stone house was empty, with only a weathered animal hide on the floor.
Aside from that, there was nothing.
His gilded eyes swept over the animal hide, and a flash of pain flickered deep within his pupils. In that instant, he seemed to have returned to those dark, sunless days.
A dull ache seemed to spread from his heart. He raised a hand to clutch his chest, but his palm touched a small, raised object.
He frowned slightly and took out the Crystal Stone he had placed over his heart.
On the colorless Crystal Stone were carved a few strange symbols. Xixi had told him it was his name. Next to his name, Xixi’s name was also carved.
A heart was drawn around their names.
Xixi had taken the time to make this when they first arrived at Beast King City and had given it to him when they parted.
Jin Ling clenched the Crystal Stone, as if he were holding Qiao Xixi’s hand. In that moment, all the pain and misery that had been suppressed in the depths of his heart were dispelled.
He put the Crystal Stone away, found a clean spot in the stone house, sat down, and leaned against the stone wall to rest with his eyes closed.
At that moment, in the palace where Jin Wei resided, the hall doors were tightly shut.
Fengxuan carried a bowl of green medicinal liquid to the bedside and forced it down the throat of Jin Wei, whose eyes were tightly shut.
After the bowl of medicine went down, Jin Wei slowly opened his eyes. But compared to his previous majestic air, his expression now looked extremely weary.
He rubbed the spot between his eyebrows and looked at Fengxuan. "What’s happening to me? Didn’t you say that as long as I took your medicine, I would be able to control the dark power in my body? Why is it that after drinking the medicine, I can’t remember anything that happened afterward?"
Fengxuan said with a serious expression, "Yesterday’s medicine wasn’t effective enough. I increased the dosage today. After taking this medicine, it can help you confine the dark power in your body to one place. I still need a little more time to research how to better utilize this power."
"How much longer do you need?"
"Rest assured, City Lord. It will be very soon."
"You still haven’t told me, what exactly did I do yesterday?"
Fengxuan said with a helpless look, "After the City Lord took the medicine yesterday, you ran out of the city by yourself in the middle of the night. When we found you, you were in the woods. As for what exactly happened, none of us know."
Jin Wei frowned and tried hard to remember, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t remember a thing.
"Alright, get to it."
"Yes, I’ll go right away."
Fengxuan turned and walked out.
Jin Wei spread his hands, his brow slowly furrowing. He felt that something was strange with his body, but for the moment, he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong.
「Night fell.」
Jin Ling slowly opened his eyes and walked out of the stone house.
He left the courtyard, his timing perfectly calculated to avoid all the patrolling beast soldiers in the palace.
He did not head for Jin Wei’s palace. Instead, he bypassed several palaces and arrived outside a magnificent palace at the edge of the royal grounds.
Compared to other places, there seemed to be even more beast soldiers here.
After avoiding the patrolling beast soldiers, Jin Ling nimbly leaped onto the stone wall and flipped over.
He had just steadied himself when he saw a figure walk out of the palace.
"Priest, the City Lord wants you to go over immediately."
Fengxuan’s voice, laced with suppressed pain, came from inside the palace. "What is it?"
"It seems something has happened over at the Void."
A series of heavy and chaotic footsteps came from the palace, and a short while later, Fengxuan walked out with a dark expression.
"Let’s go."
Watching Fengxuan’s figure disappear through the palace gate, Jin Ling then avoided the beast soldiers in the courtyard and slipped in through a window.
He entered the room where Fengxuan usually spent the most time. Inside were rows of wooden shelves, all filled with medicinal herbs.
Jin Ling knew that the forbidden drugs in Jin Wei’s possession were all created by Fengxuan. He was sure he could find some clues here.
Jin Ling quickly searched the room and, in the most hidden cabinet, found many potions stored in stone jars.
There were many kinds of potions, but their specific effects were unknown.
When Jin Ling smelled one of them, his pupils suddenly contracted. This was the same kind of forbidden drug he had been forced to take back then!
But aside from these stone jars, he couldn’t find any other potentially related items.
Just as Jin Ling was about to turn and leave, a sudden rush of hurried footsteps sounded from outside the door. If he left now, the person outside would surely spot him, so he could only duck behind the last row of wooden shelves.
He had just hidden himself when the door was pushed open and Fengxuan rushed in, flustered.
The moment he entered the room, he impatiently grabbed a stone jar from one of the shelves and began to pour its contents into his mouth.
After taking several large gulps, the pain in his body finally subsided slightly, but as the pain eased, the red in his eyes grew even more intense.
’At times like this, my hatred for Qiao Xixi reaches its peak!
It’s all because of her that I’m suffering this torture. Sooner or later, I will take her life!’
After the pain in his body eased, Fengxuan took a deep breath and stood up. But soon, his movement froze, his gaze quickly sweeping around the room.
He glanced at the spot where he had grabbed the stone jar, sniffed the air, and caught a scent that absolutely did not belong here.
’No one dares to enter this room without my orders.
But just now, I smelled a different scent.’
Fengxuan’s gaze swept across the room, his sharp eyes landing on the last row of shelves.
’The only place someone could hide in here is behind that row of shelves.’