Volume 3, Chapter 337 – Chi Xiyan, I Hate You!

Was she truly discovered?!

Bu Lianshuang lay face-down on the bed, her limbs rigid, her heart hammering like a war drum.

She did not dare look up at Chi Xiyan.

Because she knew that the moment she raised her head, her expression would give everything away.

Seeing that Bu Lianshuang had gone silent, the chill in Chi Xiyan’s gaze deepened by another degree.

“So. What exactly happened? What have you been doing?”

Bu Lianshuang’s eyes flickered rapidly. She could feel her own heartbeat spiraling out of control.

What do I do? What do I do?

What am I supposed to do right now?

Will this affect Xin’er’s plan because of me?

Bu Lianshuang! Use your head!

Think! If it were Xin’er right now, what would she do?

Fox Clan people are cunning and unpredictable. They excel at clever arguments!

If it were Xin’er, if it were Xin’er…

The coldness in Chi Xiyan’s eyes continued to sink.

Though the girl in front of her was trying hard to conceal herself, Chi Xiyan was well-versed in medicine, and none of the girl’s reactions and changes had escaped her notice.

Rapid breathing. Agitated emotions. She had something to hide.

Chi Xiyan’s voice turned icy. “Lan Shuang’er. What exactly have you been doing behind everyone’s backs?”

“Young Miss, are you not asking a question you already know the answer to?”

Bu Lianshuang’s retort left Chi Xiyan momentarily stunned.

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“Wh… what?”

Bu Lianshuang ground her teeth, and in that moment she stopped hiding her feelings.

Her hands tore furiously at the bedsheet.

“You already know. What happened last night.” Bu Lianshuang’s voice came out hoarse.

The memories of the previous night rose to the surface of her mind.

That voice, like some dark incantation, still seemed to linger at the edge of her hearing.

Without any deliberate effort on her part, the surging rage drove her blood and qi into a fierce current that raged through her body.

Bu Lianshuang was trembling with fury from head to toe.

Her fist clenched tight, and a faint crack of bone could be heard. “Do I really need to spell it out for you in detail, Young Miss?”

Chi Xiyan’s brow creased. “Just because of that?”

“Yes! Exactly because of that!”

Bu Lianshuang’s shout tore out of her.

She turned her head, fixing Chi Xiyan with a glare from eyes shot through with red.

“Is that reason not enough?”

“Or do you think I am as cold-blooded and unfeeling as you are?”

“Chi Xiyan, do you have any idea how much I hate you?!”

Bu Lianshuang’s face was flushed with a sickly red.

The surging blood and qi battered her injured body. If left unchecked, it would pile fresh damage onto wounds that had not yet healed.

But right now, Bu Lianshuang did not care.

If not for what little reason she still had left, she would have already torn that face of Chi Xiyan’s apart with her bare hands.

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“…” Chi Xiyan’s brow drew together.

She could naturally sense the blood and qi surging through Bu Lianshuang’s body.

“Are all martial cultivators this hot-tempered?”

“If you want your injuries to heal faster, you had better rein in your blood and qi.”

“You care so much about her. Why not recover properly so you can return to her side and serve her sooner.”

“I already said I would allow you to like her. Is that not enough?”

Bu Lianshuang nearly laughed from sheer exasperation.

Again. Again it was like this.

Carelessly snatching away something precious to someone else, then tossing it aside without a second thought.

Chi Xiyan, what a heartless creature you truly are.

“Young Miss, do you think I should accept your charity?”

Chi Xiyan shook her head. “This is not charity. It is a transaction.”

“A transaction?”

Bu Lianshuang thought that showing enough restraint to not reach over and slap this woman’s hand away already spoke very well of her self-control.

In the eyes of this cold woman, were these things truly all things that could be traded?

“Young Miss, this is not something you can put a price on.” Bu Lianshuang said. “What belongs to me, I will win back myself.”

Chi Xiyan replied evenly: “You say it cannot be traded, yet are you not treating it as something that can be seized by force as well?”

Bu Lianshuang forced herself to turn away. She refused to look at that infuriating face any longer.

Because she was genuinely afraid she might not be able to stop herself.

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“Fine.” Chi Xiyan let out a quiet sigh. “I do not care what you think, and I do not care how you see me. I only ask that you remember one thing. You are Muxue’s handmaiden, and you can only ever be her handmaiden.”

“The Chi Family is in turbulent times right now. Do not let your own selfish desires bring trouble to Muxue.”

“That is all I have to say. Rest and recover.”

When she finished, Chi Xiyan tossed a bottle of pills onto the bed and rose to leave.

Bu Lianshuang grabbed the bottle and raised her hand, about to fling it straight at her.

But when she looked up, Chi Xiyan was already gone.

She tightened her grip around the bottle. In the end, she did not throw it.

Inside were three pills, smooth and lustrous as jade.

Bu Lianshuang brought the bottle to her nose and gave it a careful sniff.

Hardened by the brutal conditions of the Northern Border, the Wolf Clan’s sense of smell was sharp enough to detect most poisons.

Chi Xiyan was a hateful woman, but the pills she had made were genuinely excellent.

Bu Lianshuang was not the kind of person to cut off her nose to spite her face. Getting herself back on her feet sooner could only be a good thing.

She swallowed the pills and murmured toward the window.

“Xin’er, I did not hold you back.”

“The openings I left. I did my best to cover them up.”

After leaving the Abandoned Residence, Chi Xiyan turned and looked back once.

Her brow was tightly knitted.

“Lan Shuang’er…”

She did not quite understand.

Was what had happened yesterday really enough to make that girl despise her to this degree?

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She and Muxue had only known each other for such a short time. How had she already formed feelings this deep?

Chi Xiyan murmured quietly to herself: “The way martial cultivators think is truly beyond understanding.”

Lin Xiu, the martial cultivator standing guard outside the courtyard, caught her words.

A flicker of awkwardness crossed his face. “Young Miss…”

Chi Xiyan looked toward Lin Xiu. “That matter I asked you to look into for me before. Is there any progress?”

***

On the other side of the city, after sending off the Prefect of Beihe Commandery, Wei Qingyu went straight back to the Demon Suppression Bureau’s offices.

At that moment, shadows moved throughout the Bureau. Many of its members wore heavy, gloomy expressions.

They had been tracking the wolf demon in Beihe Commandery for so long without any results to show for it.

The wolf demon had remained hidden within Beihe Commandery this entire time, never once revealing its whereabouts.

Then, out of nowhere, it surfaced and killed a disciple of a Sword Sect right in the middle of the main city district.

It was as good as a slap across the face of the Demon Suppression Bureau, delivered in broad daylight.

As the Bureau’s Inspector, Wei Qingyu was hardly in an easy position either.

Back at the Bureau’s offices, she went straight to the hidden chamber in the inner hall.

She activated the formation.

Shortly after, a languid voice drifted out. “Inspector Wei, what is there to report today.”

Wei Qingyu lowered her gaze slightly.

In their private communications, the Empress was always like this, with none of the authority she wore before her assembled officials.

“Your Majesty, Lu Guan of Lingxiao Sword Sect is dead. He was assassinated on a street in Beihe Commandery’s main city.”