Chapter 363: With You in My Hands, Zhao Mingyan Would Give Up Anything
Ji Qingwu pulled a pale blue pill from her sleeve pocket and slipped it into her mouth.
Squeezing her hand tightly, she said reassuringly, "It’s alright. I’m here. You can rest easy."
Tao Wanxin’s lower abdomen throbbed with a sharp pain, but between Ji Qingwu’s words and the pill, she felt as if she had a pillar to lean on.
"Qingwu, I’ll be alright."
Ji Qingwu nodded emphatically.
Duan Mingfeng was still locked in a struggle with the "Prison Director." While the Soft Sword lacked devastating power, it was incredibly difficult to deal with, able to change its trajectory at will. It was simply not suited for a prolonged engagement.
The "Prison Director" was clearly more adept at close-quarters combat. Wielding a short blade with fluid ease, his eyes gleamed with a vicious light as he began to force Duan Mingfeng back.
Seizing the opportunity, Ji Qingwu tossed a handful of powder at him. The blue dust shimmered as it flew, looking as if it were laced with a deadly poison.
The "Prison Director" hastily held his breath, and his movements faltered for an instant.
Duan Mingfeng’s Soft Sword pierced his right arm, drawing bizarrely colored blood.
The moment Ji Qingwu saw the strange-colored blood, she grew even more certain. This wasn’t a person controlled by a Spider Gu, but the master himself.
Duan Mingfeng moved to press his advantage and apprehend the man, but a strange smile crept across the injured "Prison Director’s" lips.
When he was stabbed, blood had splattered, and a few drops had landed on Duan Mingfeng’s hand.
After settling Princess Yong in a corner, Ji Qingwu noticed this as well.
She called out in a loud voice, "Yu Wen Tianqing, since you summoned me here, you should at least spare some time to talk."
The fight came to a halt. The Prison Director leaped to the side, tore off the human-skin mask, and said with excitement, "Fifth Miss Ji, you recognized me so quickly. I’m truly touched."
After so many days of hiding in the shadows, Yu Wen Tianqing’s face was pale, and his silver-blue eyes had dimmed considerably.
Ji Qingwu moved to stand behind Duan Mingfeng and reminded him in a low voice, "Mr. Duan, don’t circulate your Inner Strength. Yu Wen Tianqing’s blood is highly toxic."
As she approached, the Black-clothed Guards had already sealed off the main gate, leaving Yu Wen Tianqing no opportunity to escape the Imperial Prison.
Duan Mingfeng’s hand was already beginning to feel numb, but his expression remained unchanged.
"Yu Wen Tianqing, you dare to enter the Imperial Palace? This time, you’re trapped."
Yu Wen Tianqing let out a disdainful laugh. "Oh? Is that so? You should be more concerned about your own life."
A contingent of the Imperial City Department’s Black-clothed Guards had gathered at the entrance to the cells. Duan Mingfeng gave a hand signal, and they swarmed forward.
The tide had turned against Yu Wen Tianqing.
Just as Ji Qingwu was thinking that things were progressing a bit too smoothly, a white fog flooded her mind. It was a familiar feeling.
While backing away, Yu Wen Tianqing pulled a black flute from his robes, placed it to his lips, and began to play. The melody was utterly bizarre.
The fog in Ji Qingwu’s mind had yet to dissipate, but her scalp tingled. ’What is this bewitching music he’s playing?’
The others around her had a far more severe reaction.
Duan Mingfeng fell to his knees almost instantly, coughing up several mouthfuls of black blood.
The Black-clothed Guards had a less severe reaction than Duan Mingfeng, but they also lost their ability to move, collapsing to the ground in a heap.
’This is bad!’
Ji Qingwu frowned and surveyed the scene.
Prince Yong’s head was splitting with pain. He slammed it against the cell bars a few times, trying to stay conscious.
Su Fengyue, still in his cell, and Tao Wanxin in the corner were already weak. Before the song was even half-finished, they couldn’t endure it and fainted.
When the song ended, only Ji Qingwu still had the strength to stand.
She asked, "What is that song?"
"It’s the Violent Soul Song," said Yu Wen Tianqing. "The opposite of the Soul Calming melody. It makes people recall their most painful memories. The stronger a person’s Inner Strength, the more severe the torment."
"I’ve never seen anyone remain standing through this song. Does Fifth Miss Ji have no painful memories?"
It wasn’t that she had no painful memories, but that the fog in her mind had arrived at the perfect moment.
With a moment’s thought, she realized this was the national-destiny bonus reward released by her system.
She had just been in contact with Emperor Wu Su in the Diligent Governance Hall. A kiss was also a form of intimate contact, and since the reward was released so quickly, the system’s rating for it must not have been low.
The thought of Zhao Mingyan made the corners of Ji Qingwu’s lips curl up.
She remembered how, before coming here, she had pushed him back onto the Dragon Chair and told him to continue working through the mountain of memorials. All he had to do was wait for good news from her and Mr. Duan.
’It seems this "good news" will be a bit difficult to deliver.’
To Yu Wen Tianqing, however, the smiling expression in her eyes made her seem all the more unfathomable.
"But it doesn’t matter. With you in my hands, Zhao Mingyan will give up anything," Yu Wen Tianqing said, his eyes turning cold. "I can take his life again!"
Ji Qingwu assumed the two statements were unrelated, and that he was just referring to the previous plot where he’d arranged for Emperor Wu Su to be wounded by an arrow.
She parted her lips and said, "Where does the Fourth Prince get the confidence to think he can capture me and take the Emperor’s life?"
Yu Wen Tianqing gripped his short blade and walked toward Ji Qingwu.
"No need for tough talk! You don’t actually think he’s coming to save you, do you?"
He blew a breath across the blade’s edge and said with an air of absolute certainty, "My spies in the palace have also begun to move. Even if I can’t kill him, I can still take you with me."
Ji Qingwu took a step back. "Don’t you want what Su Fengyue has?"
Yu Wen Tianqing said, "You know what I’m looking for?"
Ji Qingwu nodded. "I do. And it’s not in his possession."
She kept talking to Yu Wen Tianqing to distract him, while her peripheral vision caught someone by the door moving stealthily in her direction.
"He gave it to his most favored young daughter, who is also called Yue’er."
Staring into his eyes, Ji Qingwu said slowly, "The crescent moon motif is quite beautiful."
Yu Wen Tianqing stopped in his tracks, his face turning ashen. "Why do you have that hairpin?!"
’So I was right,’ Ji Qingwu thought. The silver hairpin did have a special purpose.
And it was something incredibly important to Yu Wen Tianqing.
Ji Qingwu had already backed up to the doorway. Her gaze shifted imperceptibly to the right as she said, "Naturally, it’s because I’m so beautiful and kind. Su Daiyue liked me, so she gave it to me."
The moment her voice fell, Si Hai, who was disguised as Chang Lu, lunged in from the right side of the door.
"Watch out for his blood!"
Ji Qingwu shouted the warning as she circled around the corner of the doorway, grabbed something, and then sprinted toward the main gate of the Imperial Prison.
Just moments before, Si Hai had been outside the door and was also affected by the bewitching music. His movements were not as agile as usual, and after just a few exchanges, he was already at a disadvantage.
Yu Wen Tianqing had no intention of getting entangled with him. After learning that the hairpin was in Ji Qingwu’s possession, she was his only target.
By the time he emerged from the cells, there was no sign of Ji Qingwu.
’In such a short amount of time, and with the Imperial Prison being this large, it’s impossible for her to have escaped.’
’Besides, the main gate requires a key, and he hadn’t heard the sound of it opening.’
Yu Wen Tianqing sneered. Ji Qingwu was still somewhere within the Imperial Prison; he just didn’t know where she was hiding.