Chapter 68

One palm with triple Mysterious Yin True Qi, three palms continuous, surging like a tide. Yin Xiyu's martial arts were not weak, but suddenly facing such a strange palm technique, she suffered a secret loss for a moment. She couldn't care about thinking when the opponent had arrived from the opposite cabin to her front. She gave a sharp, charming shout, and the silver whip shook out ten thousand cold stars.

The black-clad charming shadow flew and turned in mid-air, and the water light splashed into broken ice, carrying sharp True Qi directly attacking Yin Xiyu's vital points. Yin Xiyu was forced to retreat rapidly. In this instant, the black shadow had already drifted into the Yue Ma Gang members who were rushing up. Her slender fingers were like changing flowers, and her long sleeves swept by like clouds and water. Ink butterflies appeared in the wind, splashing strands of golden and silver light, appearing and disappearing beside everyone.

The daylight was like gold, and the butterfly dance was like a fantasy.

Standing on the bow of the boat against the wind, the woman in black gave a cold, sharp smile in the chaotic golden light. Countless True Qi from her fingertips dazzled and shot into the air like substance!

Ten thousand strands of ice silk wove a piece of ethereal, cold, and clear radiance, throwing it toward the Yue Ma Gang members in the air. "Not good!" Yin Xiyu's face changed drastically, but it was too late to remind everyone to retreat. The silver whip in her hand struck Zi Rao's back with unparalleled fierceness. In her urgency, she used all her strength, not hesitating to suffer both losses to force her to turn back and save herself.

Just at this critical moment, a white light suddenly shot out from the Mingyi Tower boat, rushing between the two.

Yin Xiyu's silver whip stalled, and her body was sent out of the battle circle by a gentle force in mid-air, while the white light did not diminish in momentum, breaking directly into the deadly silk web.

Ten thousand cold lights seemed to be rivers entering the sea, pouring toward the tiny point of light simultaneously. The dazzling radiance faded and retreated, disappearing in an instant. In her haste, Yin Xiyu only saw a light flash of white, suddenly disappearing behind the curtain of the opposite cabin. Vaguely, it was a small tea cup.

A low cough came vaguely from the cabin, and a gentle, elegant voice said faintly, "Zi Rao, don't be mischievous."

The clouds were ethereal, and the river breeze was blowing. On the bow of the boat, the woman in black had hair like ink, fluttering wildly. A pair of phoenix eyes slanted to look at everyone, shockingly cold, soul-stealingly charming, and the ghostly, murderous aura was suffocating.

The Yue Ma Gang members on the boat seemed to be intimidated, all standing stiffly in place. Most of them didn't know they had just escaped death, and even less understood why they had inexplicably started fighting with the other side.

The woman in black turned her eyes slightly, looking at the flagship behind her, as if sighing softly, but under everyone's gaze, she suddenly laughed nonchalantly.

It was as if the sun had broken through the clouds, and the bright sunshine spilled over the Yangtze River. The clear waves were dazzling, and she raised her sleeves at will. The ink butterflies circling beside her disappeared, and she spoke coldly, "The Yue Ma Gang has had good luck these past two days. Since someone is protecting you, let's leave it at that for today. If you rely on having more people to come up and fight and kill again next time, I won't have such patience."

Xie Haitian, who was being supported by two subordinates and had just caught his breath, glared at her. "It was clearly you who used sorcery to disturb people's minds. When did we ever make the first move!"

Zi Rao raised her eyes, a faint smile at the corners of her lips. "Strange. Did I use sorcery to bewitch you into killing me? This sounds very unreasonable. If that were really the case, you could have seriously injured me with one palm just now. Why did you stop yourself? You must have known you were wrong. However, even if you feel you are in the wrong, you don't have to self-mutilate to apologize."

This sophistry left people with no way to refute, directly blocking Xie Haitian's True Qi, almost causing him to spit out another mouthful of blood. Yin Xiyu timely transferred a strand of True Qi to help him suppress his injuries, swept her gaze, and stopped her subordinates who were provoked again. She said in a deep voice, "Although the Mingyi Tower and my Yue Ma Gang have no deep friendship, there is no old grudge. We came here today with no intention of causing trouble. May I ask why the Tower Master used such heavy hands to injure my subordinates and was so aggressive?"

Zi Rao raised her eyebrows and said faintly, "I don't have the leisure to provoke enemies everywhere, but you made the first move, and now you blame me instead. How unreasonable."

Even if Yin Xiyu didn't want to form a grudge with the Mingyi Tower, she was a bit angry at this time. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly heard someone in the opposite cabin say in a faint voice, "Since everyone has no intention of offending, today's matter is just a misunderstanding. Gang Leader Yin, why must our two gangs hurt the harmony because of this little thing?"

That voice was calm and peaceful, drifting to her ears with the river breeze, as distant as clouds and as calm as water, making everyone who heard it lose their hostility. The Mingyi Tower subordinates who were eager to try were naturally calm, and the Yue Ma Gang members' expressions gradually eased. The previously tense atmosphere dissipated into nothingness in these clear, faint words. Yin Xiyu suddenly looked at the cabin and realized that this voice contained extremely gentle True Qi, which had already invisibly resolved the soul-absorbing technique everyone had suffered, while at the same time suppressing everyone's mind with a more brilliant method.

Zi Rao glared at the cabin angrily, flicked her sleeves, and her body retreated in the air, floating back to the flagship.

"Gang Leader Yin, my younger sister is willful and has offended you many times. I have also heard a little about your gang's affairs. The Zhu Jiuyin snake gall is with me. Tomorrow, you can bring your younger brother to the Yan Xiang Fang in Qianyi Alley. Perhaps I have a way to solve the poison in his body."

A man's gentle and elegant voice suddenly sounded in Yin Xiyu's ears, but it was the person in the cabin telling her secretly using the sound transmission technique. She was slightly startled, not knowing what the other party's intention was. She asked herself that across such a distance, and through the cabin, it would be difficult to have such a clear conversation using the sound transmission technique, so she said directly, "My younger brother's life is hanging by a thread, and his life and death are all on this snake gall. Our entire gang will definitely spare no cost for this matter. If we have offended your gang inadvertently, it was a last resort. We naturally don't want to make enemies in the martial arts world, especially enemies like your gang."

The voice smiled slightly, carrying a sense of peace that made people feel at ease. "Gang Leader, don't be impatient. I believe the young gang leader has his own good fortune and will be fine."

Yin Xiyu weighed it in her heart. Although they had more people today, the woman in black's martial arts originated from the Witch Clan and was strange and difficult to deal with. The person in the cabin had easily resolved the two-sided killing move with just a thin porcelain tea cup. If they fought hard, she was afraid she wouldn't be sure to have the upper hand. This person's words were clearly quite weighty, and his status seemed to be even higher than the Mingyi Tower Master, and his attitude was also very friendly. Although the other party's intention was not yet clear, observing the changes was an effective method. It was better to see what they wanted to do first. Yin Xiyu judged the situation, made a decision immediately, said a few polite words along the conversation, and raised her hand to wave backward.

Seeing the Gang Leader's order, the Yue Ma Gang giant boat spread its sails and turned its rudder. The eighty long oars on both sides were retracted into the hull, directly changing the bow to the stern. Yin Xiyu cupped her hands from the bow and said, "We will meet again." Her behavior was polite, leaving enough room for both sides. The flagship, under the protection of two rows of small boats, turned into the middle of the river and sailed toward the Chu Capital first.

The Yue Ma Gang boats left peacefully. In the comfortable cabin, Zi Hao was still leaning on the soft cushion, his expression calm, slowly tasting the fragrant tea in his hand.

When Zi Rao stepped into the cabin, she had already returned to her usual laziness, leaning against the desk, asking with a smile that was not a smile, "Just teaching them a lesson, why did you save them?"

Zi Hao raised his eyes to look at her, his eyes deep. "Lotus Flower, Ice Blade, Flame Butterfly, Thousand Threads—you used all your strength as soon as you made a move. Why use such force just to teach a lesson? If I hadn't intervened, I'm afraid you would have risked being injured yourself and killed Yin Xiyu right here?"

Having her thoughts broken by him, Zi Rao couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, but she didn't care. "The Yue Ma Gang is a strong reinforcement for Crown Prince Yu in the Chu State. If they solve the gang's affairs and go all out to deal with Ye Xuanshang and Huang Fei, that would be very troublesome. Now their young gang leader's life is hanging by a thread. If the Gang Leader is gone, the gang will definitely be in chaos. We can just remove a strong enemy and avoid long nights and many dreams."

Zi Hao lowered his eyes quietly. "There are no eternal friends in this world, and there are no eternal enemies."

Zi Rao's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, like a thin blade flashing gently. "Yin Xiyu will definitely try every means to seize the snake gall to save her brother's life. Just because of this, it is impossible for her to turn enemies into friends with us."

Hearing her say this, Zi Hao just smiled faintly and remained silent. Zi Rao's eyes drifted to the side, staring at him for a while, her eyebrows slightly twisted. "Zi Hao."

"Hmm." He responded casually, still looking down at his tea. Suddenly, a hand reached out and snatched the tea cup without question. Zi Rao's dark, full eyes looked straight into his heart, and what she said made him stunned for a long time. "You should break that thought as soon as possible. Don't think about using the snake gall to trade with the Yue Ma Gang. You can't exchange it for anything!"

Looking at each other, Zi Hao seemed to want to say something, but it turned into a bitter smile at the corners of his lips. He actually looked away, which was unprecedented.

The Eastern Emperor, whose heart was as deep as the sea, could hide it from the world, but not from her. The woman like glaze had a delicate heart, almost as if she had attached to his soul and changed his heart. For a moment, he had a confusing illusion that there was such a person in the world who understood him better than himself and cared about him more than himself.

"That snake gall was exchanged for my life. If you give it to someone else in exchange for something else, it would be better to take my life!"

A categorical sentence, a touch of determination in her slanted eyes—it was just like that when facing the sky-high flames and the burning punishment on Yao Guang Terrace back then. She had said it to this point, and Zi Hao really didn't know how to answer. His eyes contained deep helplessness, but also contained thousands of feelings flowing like water. Even he himself hadn't noticed the sigh that was exceptionally gentle. "When did I say I was going to give the snake gall to someone else? You were so anxious. If you don't agree, that's fine. Why say such heavy words?"

Zi Rao still stared at him without letting go. "Swear by your status as the head of the royal clan."

She knew he valued the clan very much and might ignore anything, but he would never joke about the royal clan's oath. Zi Hao was startled and turned his head to cough low. "What kind of thing is this? Why is it so serious?"

On weekdays, as long as he said something, Zi Rao would never ask him for a second promise. Today, she was determined not to give in. "You swear."

Zi Hao was silent again. The two looked at each other at an extremely close distance without blinking. One had eyes as unfathomable as the vast sea, and the other had eyebrows as determined as cold jade. After a long time, Zi Hao sighed lightly, closed his eyes slightly to hide the deep gaze, but a deep, silent smile appeared on his face. "Okay, I swear."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 69 =====