Chapter 41
Chapter 41
The Transient Realm (End)
That pair of eyes reflected the shimmering light of the forest. It seemed to have gathered all the stars in the sky—but unfortunately, the stars were cold, and one couldn’t help but tremble as one gazed into them. Even if you wanted to get closer, the stars were so far away that it was simply impossible to draw close at all.
Zheng Wan found that it was only then that she understood his emotions. All his emotions——were simply based on the pity the strong had for the weak.
“Mm. But Mister Cui had saved me once again.”
Zheng Wan smiled so much that both eyes narrowed into crescents, “Mister Cui is completely fine now. You wouldn’t still suspect that Wan’niang will be able to plant the gu now, right?”
Cui Wang glanced at her. For the first time, he felt that a woman’s mind was very difficult to understand.
For example, the person before him had a mind full of twists and turns, true feelings mixed with false intentions; it was truly difficult to decipher.
“Let’s go.”
He stepped towards the hut, “The exit should be inside the hut. There is a teleportation formation inside.”
Zheng Wan followed with a smile.
Sure enough, in the dilapidated thatched hut, nothing was intact, but there was a teleportation formation that was shining with a bright, white light.
Above the brightly shining teleportation formation, two items covered by a white transparent cover floated in mid-air. They seemed like rewards for clearing the realm.
A white jade zan, and a black, unidentifiable… stone.
Zheng Wan noticed that Cui Wang’s brows relaxed at the sight of the stone, revealing a rare hint of joy.
He beckoned with a flick of his hand, and the white jade zan fell directly into her arms. Meanwhile, he carefully wrapped the stone in a handkerchief.
Zheng Wan pointed at herself.
“I have one too?”
“This is a flying zan. If you step onto the path cultivation one day, it will be of great use.” Cui Wang did not want to explain further. He bent down and sent dozens of transparent square stones into the grooves beside the formation.
A golden light suddenly rose; in it, his face shone as majestic as a deity.
Zheng Wan watched without moving a muscle; Cui Wang motioned for her to step into the formation as well.
“Girl, you know, there’s a scheme that no men in this world can resist.”
“What scheme?”
“The scheme of inflicting injury on oneself to win the enemy’s trust3. Even bones made of gold and steel can become malleable in your hands.”
Zheng Wan stepped onto the teleportation formation. A “boom” came from the faceless monster beside her ear, and she saw tens of thousands of arrows appear in the hut, gather in one mass, and flew towards Cui Wang.
“Zheng Wan!”
The formation was only that big; Cui Wang’s charged attack was interrupted before he could unleash it. He could only watch as countless arrows hurtled over, passing through the various protective formations he had hastily set up, and finally fell upon Zheng Wan.
Its momentum was like lightning; there was no way to avoid it.
The force pierced through Zheng Wan’s body, and when it finally landed on Cui Wang, even the protective formation on his magical robes was left intact.
But Zheng Wan’s mortal body could not withstand the impact; countless horrible blood stains blossomed all over the cloud brocade, and in a short while, the cloud brocade had become a blood brocade.
She was curled up in his arms, tilting her pale little face at him. The moment she opened her mouth, blood gurgled out.
Zheng Wan smiled, with her usual hint of smugness in the corners of her mouth. She looked at the ice and snow that was melting from Cui Wang’s eyes. “Cui–Cui Wang… you… you see… you are destined to– to owe… me… I’m g-going to die soon… Can–can you… k-kiss… kiss me, p-please…”
Cui Wang nodded, and finally replied, “Alright.”
Like a butterfly’s touch, his cold lips kissed her gently on the back of her hand. Zheng Wan gulped back a mouthful of blood, and raised her hand to caress his face.
“But–but sadly… Wan’niang can–can no longer follow by Mi–Mister’s… side… the cloud–cloud brocade… is really… really dirty… what–what an… ugly… way to die…”
“Stop talking.”
Cui Wang took out a golden jade bottle from his sleeve and poured several Jiuzhuandan pills into her mouth. The was an elixir from the heavenly realms; it was hard to obtain even with tens of thousands of taels of gold, but he was wasting it on a mortal as if it cost nothing.
“The lovers’ gu has been planted. Little girl, you really are capable.”
After all, this was something that could only be successfully planted when the other party was completely defenseless.
The teleportation formation suddenly rose up with all sorts of spells; the two people in the formation—one sitting and one lying—disappeared in an instant.
Footnote:
3 inflicting injury on oneself to win the enemy’s trust: 苦肉计(kurouji); one of the 36 Stratagems, an ancient Chinese text used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and civil interaction.