Chapter 2348: Flaw

"Rest assured, your suffering won't have been in vain." Du Shan mused, "Any other hidden intelligence?"

Mei Wuniang bit her lip: "Actually there's one more thing. I used every trick in the book to hide it from Nie Xiaolou, and that is..."

After speaking for so long, she was tired too, and what she was reporting was secret intelligence; her voice grew lower and lower.

The two were already sitting close; Du Shan naturally leaned forward, wanting to hear clearly what she said.

"I, I'm feeling a bit dizzy..." Mei Wuniang swayed twice, nearly falling onto him.

Du Shan reached out to support her quite naturally, but unexpectedly Mei Wuniang suddenly lunged forward, crashing straight into his embrace!

This truly caught him off guard; Du Shan felt a chill in his chest, and was actually pierced through by a sharp blade!

"You, you're crazy..." He instinctively knocked Mei Wuniang away, intending to grab her throat, but his vital point was destroyed so he couldn't muster strength; moreover, after Mei Wuniang stabbed a dagger through his heart, fearing he wouldn't die thoroughly, she clutched the dagger and viciously twisted it a few times.

"I'm not crazy. You just treated me like a fool, played me all the way." Mei Wuniang sneered, "Hah! Still not revealing your true face!"

"Du Shan" knelt on the ground, his face indeed changing, turning into a visage of black face and fangs.

Normal humans certainly don't look like this.

It bared sharp fangs, pouncing fiercely at Mei Wuniang.

She gripped the dagger tight, preparing for a desperate fight to the death.

However, this monster dissolved into smoke and ash halfway through its pounce, vanishing into the air with a bang.

Simultaneously, the scene she was in also shattered into fragments.

The tables and chairs before her, the lamp trees outside the window, the neighing horses and human voices not far away... all vanished like smoke.

Like a candy house melting under scorching flames.

Mei Wuniang slowly opened her eyes, waking as if from a dream.

Her world hadn't truly collapsed, because she was still in the guest room of an inn in Tuo Township, Beijia Kingdom. The night was deep; outside there wasn't even a hint of insect chirps or bird calls, quiet as a graveyard.

Turns out she had been here all along, not having moved a single step.

Heavy medicinal scent permeated the air. Mei Wuniang lowered her head, seeing both her hands still bandaged like two round zongzi, dark red seeping through the gauze underneath.

Nie Xiaolou sat right opposite her; on the table sat a pot of hot tea, a single cup.

Seeing Mei Wuniang suddenly open her eyes, Nie Xiaolou's brow furrowed imperceptibly, his gaze lowering slightly; he picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.

"Turns out it was just an illusion dream after all!" Mei Wuniang's lips curled, mocking him, "Didn't fool me. Disappointed, aren't you?"

Judging from the injuries on her hands, it had likely been just over two hours since she was severely tortured; her head was still heavy and groggy.

Yet Nie Xiaolou said: "Time to change the medicine."

He still wanted to try once more; he wasn't willing to just watch such important intelligence flow out of Lingxu City.

No sooner had his words fallen than a physician walked in to change Mei Wuniang's medicine.

This person's technique was extremely light, causing her no additional pain; and after cleaning the wounds he said: "The right hand doesn't need bandaging anymore; just apply medicine regularly from now on."

Her right hand wounds had stopped bleeding long ago, and Qinggong's spiritual medicines were effective too; the fingers originally swollen like gluten had already subsided.

During this period, Mei Wuniang also replayed everything that had just happened in her mind.

Clearly the Master of Qinggong had set another trap for her, exploiting her desperate desire to escape, weaving a dream of safely returning to Cangyan!

This person truly doesn't know what giving up means.

Everything in the dream seemed real. Even if some small details were off, Mei Wuniang's own spirit was damaged, her mind not too clear; she might not have spotted them. Nie Xiaolou also arranged a "Floating Barge" for her to ride; the journey was basically all flying in the sky — how could she see ground details clearly?

As a Cangyan spy, returning to Ju City naturally meant reporting for duty. What the specific handover procedure was after she returned to the capital, Nie Xiaolou probably wasn't too clear; so he simply arranged for "Du Shan" to personally welcome her.

For the Prime Minister's exalted status to welcome an earth-shattering secret was reasonable enough. That was condescension; no need to follow normal procedure.

Mei Wuniang returning to Ju City would certainly be filled with the relief of escaping the demon's lair and safely returning home. When people relax, they lower their guard; if she told "Du Shan" the fourth secret, it would prove Nie Xiaolou's suspicion was sound and his scheme far-reaching.

She revealed the first three major secrets all to guard this last one; one can see how explosive its content was.

Mei Wuniang stared fixedly at Nie Xiaolou before her.

This man was the successor personally designated by the late Qingyang Grand Preceptor; though his fame fell far short of hers, being able to sit steadily in this position for over a decade itself speaks to his ability. Leaving aside other things, just this tenacity, this determination to pursue to the end — who on the side being hounded wouldn't be afraid?

Nie Xiaolou smiled: "Don't rush. I won't make a move again. You rest well tonight; early tomorrow morning, I'll have someone escort you flying back to Cangyan."

Mei Wuniang raised a brow in annoyance; the Nie Xiaolou in the dream had said this same line before.

"The night is long, and I just woke up... if you have the leisure, you can try a few more times."

Finished speaking, she couldn't help but yawn again.

Nie Xiaolou maintained his smile. This trick only works the first time when catching someone off guard; once it fails, it's quite hard to use again.

But the Emperor had already accepted the Nine Nether Great Emperor's personal letter, and was about to let Mei Wuniang leave safely. Meaning, he could no longer torture her.

So he designed this little game that didn't injure tendons or bones, nor harm the spirit, waiting for her to voluntarily divulge secrets — if any.

Yet Mei Wuniang saw through it again. Alas, what a wasted opportunity.

He asked her: "How did you know it was all a dream? If it were real, you'd go down in history for murdering Cangyan's Prime Minister."

"Since when is going down in history that easy? Oh wait, I mean, since when is Cangyan's Prime Minister that easy to stab to death?" These past years she'd occasionally heard gossip from afar, saying Du Shan's reputation used to be bad, and even after becoming Cangyan's Prime Minister he still had many hateful traits, and would turn hostile without acknowledging people. But if this guy were easy to kill, would it have fallen to her to kill him?

Nie Xiaolou lifted the pot: "How did you see through it?"

He was curious too.

The one who arranged this dream was his best nightmare subordinate. Sometimes, even he himself couldn't spot the flaws.

He took out another teacup, placed it before Mei Wuniang, and personally poured her a full cup.

This woman had earned the qualification to sit at the table and drink tea.

Mei Wuniang glanced at this cup of tea, unafraid he might have tampered with it; she lifted the cup and sipped lightly.

The moment she took the cup it pulled at her wounds, very painful, but she acted as if unaware.

"The cat."

"What was wrong with the cat?" Actually, thinking back now, Nie Xiaolou felt the flaw was nine-tenths due to the request Mei Wuniang specially raised.

"Your subordinates found me the cat per my request. Sure enough, a dirty, skinny, yellow-eyed little white cat." Mei Wuniang gently set the cup on the table, "The left hind leg was lame too."

Nie Xiaolou waited for her to continue.

"But the cat I fed in reality, its right hind leg is lame!"