Счастье совсем рядом, за следующим поворотом

Глава 38

"It's not her." Gu Shaoting denied it outright, coldly saying, "I have absolutely no relationship with her. I, Gu Shaoting, have no connection whatsoever with anyone from the Demonic Sect, and I never will."

Is this indirectly telling me that he will never acknowledge the child in Leng Baichun's belly?

How heartless! Men are always more ruthless than women. They can be so cruel. Even if they loved you before, they can deny everything when they want to turn their backs on you.

I had intended to warn them that Yan Shu might bring people to abduct them, but after thinking about it, I kept quiet.

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Surprisingly, Yan Shu didn't ambush us along the way. I led them through the journey without any major incidents. When we encountered guards, we told them they were my slaves, and we managed to reach the Heavenly Punishment Prison without any problems.

Strange, very strange. Logically speaking, the Heavenly Punishment Prison should be heavily guarded, and there should be no way to get in. But I only saw two guards at the entrance who were practically useless. Once inside, the jailer glanced at me and hurriedly lowered his head, saying, "Miss Su, what brings you here..."

I looked around; the silence was eerie.

Gu Shaoting nudged me from behind, and I asked, "Um... where is Ruanbicheng Pass?"

"This..." The jailer's beady eyes darted between the Gu siblings behind me, and he said, "The Left Protector ordered that Ruan Bicheng be handed over to Miss Ye for disposal. To see her, one must obtain Miss Ye's permission..."

I turned my head and looked at Gu Shaoting with a troubled expression. He walked past me and handed the token directly to the jailer, saying, "What if the cult leader gives permission?"

The jailer was shocked, and so was I. Good heavens... where did they get that white jade token?! If I remember correctly, there's only one in the entire sect, and it's personally controlled by the old sect leader. No wonder they can come and go so easily!

The jailer hesitated for a moment, then readily accepted the token and said, "Come with me."

Gu Biyun was overjoyed and let go of me.

In that instant, I felt a soft breeze blow by, the lights in the prison went out, and in the dim light, I could only hear the sound of the Gu siblings drawing their swords.

I felt a sudden tightness around my waist as I was pulled violently into someone's arms. Before I could even react, the lights in the cell flickered and came back on.

I saw the guards who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and the Gu siblings who had been captured on the ground. I knew who was holding me without even looking up.

The lights went out and came back on in the blink of an eye. I didn't even hear the sounds of fighting before Yan Shu had already closed the net and taken control of the entire situation.

No wonder there were no guards; it turns out Yan Shu had already laid an ambush.

The jailer eagerly presented the token to Yan Shu, flattering him, "Priest, you are truly a genius! You captured them without lifting a finger!"

He held me close, his smile both alluring and contemptuous, his chest resonating with a booming sound. "If they hadn't touched Su Xie, would I have bothered with just two lackeys? They're overestimating themselves."

“What you say is absolutely right, sir,” the jailer clapped eagerly.

I stood stiffly as he held me, neither struggling nor uttering a sound. I just watched as Gu Shaoting was pinned to the ground, his veins bulging as he struggled, glaring at me and cursing, "Witch! You really are a viper! I should have killed you with one sword long ago!"

I can't even be bothered to get angry at someone like him. I said with genuine helplessness, "I told you not to come, but you insisted on coming."

He spat a mouthful of phlegm right at my feet.

Yan Shu raised an eyebrow, and immediately a guard stepped on his head, slamming his face into the ground. Yan Shu asked me casually, "Which hand did he use to strike you with his sword just now?"

I remained silent.

Yan Shu slightly raised his finger, and the guard drew his sword and stepped on Gu Shaoting's wrist. He looked at me and smiled, "Right hand?" His finger fell.

The guard plunged his sword into Gu Shaoting's right arm. White blade, red blood. Gu Shaoting and Gu Biyun screamed in agony. His fingers twitched at my feet, like a dying fish struggling.

"Or..." Yan Shu continued with a nonchalant smile, "the left hand?"

I hurriedly grabbed his fingers, and he looked at me closely and smiled, "How about severing the tendons in his right hand?"

The guard pulled out his sword, and Gu Shaoting screamed through gritted teeth. Blood splattered at my feet. I suddenly said, "No need for the High Priest." I turned to look at Gu Shaoting, "I'll do it myself."

I brushed his hand off my waist, went over to the guard, and said, "Give me the sword."

The guard glanced at Yan Shu, and after receiving a signal from him, handed me the sword, then turned Gu Shaoting over and stepped on him with his palm facing upwards.

Gu Shaoting's face was deathly pale, covered in dust and cold sweat. His eyes, sharp as knives, stared at me as he uttered each word with venom: "Witch! You'd better kill me today! Otherwise..."

Before he could utter any more vicious words, I slashed his wrist with my sword, almost slicing off a piece of flesh. Blood gushed out instantly from the mangled flesh, but he bit his gums until they bled and remained silent. Gu Biyun, on the other hand, was so frightened that she burst into tears.

I was breathing rapidly, my palms were sweating profusely, and suddenly someone touched my fingers. I felt a burning sensation all over my body and trembled. I hurriedly dodged away and saw Yan Shu's face.

He stared at my fingers for a long time before saying, "Are you shaking?"

"Is that so?" I tossed the sword to the ground and said with a lowered gaze, "The priest is overthinking it."

He kept staring at me, and after a long while, he smiled and said, "Do you really want to see Ruan Bicheng?"

I didn't understand why he suddenly asked that question, so I just lowered my eyes and said, "Why do you say that, Priest? What does Ruan Bicheng have to do with me?"

"Oh?" Yan Shu pinched my chin, frowning slightly, and said, "If you don't want to see him, with your martial arts skills, would you let someone hold a sword to your head?"

I don't know how to explain this. How can I explain such a misunderstanding? Su Xie's martial arts skills are not weak; they are far superior to Gu Shaoting's. Gu Shaoting certainly couldn't possibly capture Su Xie. But I am not Su Xie... I genuinely cannot defeat him...

"Hmm?" Seeing that I didn't answer, his brows furrowed even more. "Answer me, Su Xie."

As I was pondering how to answer, Gu Biyun, struggling on the ground, reached out and grabbed the hem of my robe, crying, "Su Xie, please let my brother go... please let my brother go for the sake of my cousin who has always protected you..."

Yan Shu's brows furrowed and then relaxed, and he chuckled with a click of his tongue, "I see... Ruan Bicheng treats you very well?"

My fingers were getting cold. He forced me to look up and tried to smile, saying, "He hates to the point of killing every member of the Demonic Sect. How could he possibly treat me well?"

"My cousin Su Xie never..."

"Shut up!" I abruptly interrupted her. "I have absolutely no relation to Ruan Bicheng." I said to Yan Shu, "Priest, please continue enjoying yourself. I'm going back now."

As I was about to leave after passing Yan Shu, he grabbed my wrist and laughed, "What's the rush? Now that you're here, I have to let you meet Ruan Bicheng."

I didn't turn around. "I have absolutely nothing to do with him, why would I want to see him?"

"Since there's no connection, there's no harm in meeting." Yan Shu pulled me forcefully around, grabbed my waist with one hand, and laughed, "Or is it that you can't bear to see your Alliance Leader being tortured like this?"

"Yan Shu," I said calmly, letting out a breath, "have you had enough fun?"

"Play?" Yan Shu's smile gradually cooled, and he said to me in a low voice, "Then I'll show you what playing really means." He suddenly raised his voice, "Drag Ruan Bicheng out!"

Author's Note: This chapter tells us that the High Priest is petty. When the High Priest gets angry, he's abnormally petty. Don't tolerate petty men, especially those who are both abnormal and petty. Also, it's not the god-like opponents you should fear, but the pig-like teammates. Cousin Gu is a spoiled brat… You don't need to hate her, she'll ruin herself… PS: Can you guess who gave you that white jade token?

Forty-five

“Cousin…” Gu Biyun cried out.

I heard the clanging of chains, and I lowered my eyes, not daring to look up.

Yan Shu hugged me and chuckled, "Why don't you dare to look?" He took the iron chain from the jailer, stuffed it into my hand, gripped my hand tightly, and pulled hard.

The iron chains were digging painfully into my palms. Someone stumbled and fell at my feet. I was so frightened that I wanted to back away, but Yan Shu held me tightly.

"Haven't you always wanted to see him?" Yan Shu jingled the iron chain, his eyebrows raised in a smile, and slowly pulled the man up.

A chain was locked around his neck. The man's full head of black hair covered his eyebrows and eyes. His face was frighteningly white, without wounds or color, a deathly ashen color. Only his eyes had a light, calmly meeting my gaze.

Yan Shu held my hand, made me pull on the iron chain, and asked me with a smile, "What does he look like now?"

Like a dog...

I never dared to imagine that one day, Ruan Bicheng, whom I once revered like a deity, would be crawling at my feet like a dog.

My heart was strangely still, so still that it frightened me, like Ruan Bicheng's eyes now, devoid of anything.

"Cousin... Su Xie, please let them go! Please let them go..." Gu Biyun broke free and grabbed the hem of my robe, crying incoherently.

Yan Shu looked at me, laughing with great pleasure like a child caught up in a playful mood, and asked me, "Guess what I did to Ruan Bicheng?"

I don't know, and I don't want to know. I hurriedly tried to loosen the chains and pulled my hand back, saying, "Yan Shu, I... I want to go back to sleep."

"How can that be?" Yan Shu didn't let go, squinting at me. "We've only just begun." He waved to the jailer and said, "Bring a bucket of good wine."

The jailer responded and soon brought over a bucket of strong liquor, the pungent smell of which assaulted the nostrils.

Yan Shu slightly raised his finger, and the jailer, understanding perfectly, poured a full barrel of strong liquor down Ruan Bicheng's back.

The air was thick with the smell of alcohol. I saw Ruan Bicheng suddenly close her eyes tightly, her brows twitching and furrowing little by little, her fingers gripping the ground convulsing uncontrollably.

He didn't say anything, but Gu Biyun cried out in surprise first.

I smelled a strong stench of blood mixed with the smell of alcohol, which made my stomach churn. I looked up and saw Ruan Bicheng's soaked back. Underneath her plain white clothes, patches of blood seeped out, like red flowers blooming on white paper, scattered here and there, one layer after another, gradually flowing down to the ground with the strong liquor.

My fingers suddenly cramped up, and I heard Yan Shu laughing hysterically in my ear, asking, "Is it fun?"

Something was pressing on my chest, and I tried my best to breathe without making a sound.

Gu Biyun was so frightened that she curled up on the ground, trembling and crying, gasping for breath, "What...what did you do to my cousin!"

Yan Shu bent down to look at Gu Biyun, a smile playing on his lips. "You want to know?" His sharp, delicate fingernails traced a line across Gu Biyun's forehead and chin. "Actually, it's quite complicated... First, you have to peel the skin off her back with a knife. To prevent bleeding, you have to use a piece of iron to burn a thin scab onto the granulation tissue, making sure it's not too thick... Then you pour strong liquor on it, causing the skin to spasm and twitch in pain. The thin scab cracks open, and blood seeps out from under it... Isn't that fun?"

Gu Biyun's face was deathly pale, and she was so frightened that her teeth were chattering.

Yan Shu smiled and asked her, "Would you like to give it a try?"

Gu Biyun shuddered and vomited instantly.

Even as Yan Shu closed his eyes and contentedly wiped his hands, he heard Gu Shaoting, barely able to breathe, say with all his might, "If you dare to touch Bi Yun, I will haunt you even as a ghost!"

Yan Shu chuckled, "You? You think you can touch me just because you've become a ghost?"

Gu Shaoting gritted his teeth and suddenly glared at me, "Su Xie! If you have any conscience at all, you should remember who risked their life to save you at Licheng Palace!"

The raging fire, the arrows, Ruan Bicheng's slightly flushed face... my mind was racing.

Gu Biyun felt as if her stomach had been emptied, lying on the ground with red eyes, "It's all my fault...it's all my fault. If I hadn't trusted Ye Baizhi, my cousin wouldn't have been arrested..."

"If it weren't for saving Su Xie, would he have been seriously injured and ambushed by Ye Baizhi?!" Gu Shaoting glared at me fiercely. "If Su Xie hadn't saved you, would he have ended up in this state?!"

I looked at Ruan Bicheng; he had his eyes downcast and closed, lying on the blood-soaked ground, trembling very slightly.

Yan Shu smiled beside me, and I suddenly smiled too. "He saved me willingly, and he ended up in this state because he was blind and trusted the wrong person. What does it have to do with me?"

Ruan Bicheng suddenly trembled violently and looked up at me through her wet black hair.

I avoided his eyes and said to Yan Shu, "I've seen what I needed to see and played what I needed to play. May I go back now, High Priest?"

Yan Shu stared at me for a long, long time, then leaned over and hooked my finger with his, laughing, "Aren't you heartbroken?"

"Why should I feel sorry for him?" I pulled my finger back and smiled at him. "Indeed, he is quite handsome, but his serious and unsmiling appearance is really not likable."

Yan Shu's smile grew even more cheerful. He patted my head as a reward and said, "You've passed. Let's go back together."

"Passed the test?" I was puzzled and didn't understand.

Yan Shu said dismissively, "Do you think I didn't know they joined the sect? And you were eavesdropping on me. Do you think my garden is so easy to enter? I just wanted to test whether you would betray me?"

Something inside me started to feel cold and a little chilly. I frowned and asked, "Have you been testing me all this time?"

From the very beginning, he deliberately let me eavesdrop, and then deliberately let the Gu siblings join the cult. That white jade token must have been given by the wise and resourceful priest, right?

How ridiculous! I laughed out loud, but Yan Shu took my hand and said, "It's not a test. If you want to listen, you can listen; if you want to play, I'll play with you. I just want to see if you'll listen to me."