Volume 3, Chapter 359 – Xiyan Did This

Lu Zhuxin reached out and gently closed her hand around Bu Lianshuang’s clenched fist.

She cradled it in her palm, then slowly eased the fingers open.

“I understand Your Highness’s concern.” Lu Zhuxin laid her palm softly over Bu Lianshuang’s.

The warmth that seeped through from her touch made Bu Lianshuang pause.

She looked at Lu Zhuxin’s face. Beneath the silver mask, a pair of eyes shimmered like rippling water.

The Fox clan’s eyes always seemed to speak on their own.

Under the gaze of those emotion-filled eyes, Bu Lianshuang felt her heart skip a beat.

The corner of Lu Zhuxin’s mouth curved into a faint smile. “Even so, I am already used to these things…”

“More than anything, I would rather not see Your Highness suffer.”

“After all…” Lu Zhuxin lowered her gaze, and the soft gleam in her eyes dimmed slightly.

“Your Highness is in this situation because of me.”

Watching the light fade from her fox young miss’s eyes, Bu Lianshuang felt something clench in her chest.

She quickly wrapped her own hand around Lu Zhuxin’s.

“I really am fine, truly!”

“Wolf clan members are tough. A bit of a beating is nothing!”

Lu Zhuxin looked up at Bu Lianshuang’s earnest expression and let out a soft, involuntary laugh. “Your Highness really is… terribly endearing.”

“Then… do you like me?” Bu Lianshuang tightened her grip on Lu Zhuxin’s hand.

“…” Lu Zhuxin blinked.

Honestly. Such a romantic.

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She paused, then said, “Your Highness, that question…”

Crack. Crack.

A sudden sound cut her off.

She turned toward the courtyard wall.

Above the Chi family estate, layer upon layer of arcane runes were materializing. A golden curtain of light descended like an enormous inverted bowl, encasing the entire residence within.

“Chi Jingwen has fully activated the Chi family’s formation,” Lu Zhuxin remarked with a calm smile. “He wants to trap me inside.”

Bu Lianshuang grasped the gravity of that at once.

“Xin’er, is this because of me?! If you hadn’t come back to rescue me, you wouldn’t be caught in the formation.”

Lu Zhuxin scratched her head.

Bu Lianshuang was not wrong. Without the need to rescue her, Lu Zhuxin would not have had to make this trip.

But Lu Zhuxin’s reason for coming was not quite what Bu Lianshuang imagined.

“Your Highness, it’s alright,” Lu Zhuxin said. “I was planning to cause a scene in the Chi Residence anyway.”

“Hm?” Confusion surfaced in Bu Lianshuang’s eyes.

She did not quite understand where her fox young miss’s confidence came from.

The Chi family was a major human power no matter how you looked at it, and they had a grand formation on top of that. The fox clan was not known for combat. With only a Seventh Realm cultivation, just how did her fox young miss intend to fight their way out?

Well… when the fighting starts, I’ll do my best to protect her.

Bu Lianshuang settled on that thought.

At that moment, Lu Zhuxin handed her a map.

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“Your Highness, in a moment I will go deal with the Chi family’s retainers personally.”

“When the time comes, follow the route on this map and slip away in the chaos.”

Bu Lianshuang’s eyes snapped wide.

“What about you?!”

“There’s no time to explain, Your Highness.” Lu Zhuxin said. “This is our only chance.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll catch up shortly.”

“I have spent these past days studying every inch of the Chi Residence’s formation layout. Chi Jingwen will not be able to stop me.”

As she spoke, Lu Zhuxin gripped her sword and stepped forward.

The powerful formation barrier before her split apart like paper under her blade.

“Your Highness, go now!” Lu Zhuxin’s back was turned to Bu Lianshuang. “Whatever we have to say to each other, let’s save it for when we’re home.”

With that, her silhouette vanished from Bu Lianshuang’s sight.

Bu Lianshuang felt her heart wrench painfully.

It was almost laughable. She had followed her fox young miss to the Chi Residence with the intention of being useful.

Yet when she counted the moments she had actually helped, they amounted to almost nothing.

If anything, her presence had become a source of setbacks for her fox young miss at every turn.

That had never been Bu Lianshuang’s intention.

But right now, she found herself feeling utterly powerless.

A Fifth Realm cultivation was no small thing, and as the wolf clan’s princess, her combat experience was nothing to dismiss either. Yet the enemies her fox young miss faced were simply too strong. Her cultivation felt pitifully inadequate.

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She looked down at the map in her hand.

But all she could see was the slender back of her fox young miss.

And faintly, as though carried by the air, she could still hear that soft, warm voice.

“…”

Bu Lianshuang bit down hard and closed her fist around the map.

***

On the other side of the estate, Chi Jingwen held his position at the heart of the grand residence, his expression grave.

“Family Head!” A warrior came running with a report. “The Second Miss is not in her courtyard. She vanished at some point. The whole place is empty!”

Chi Jingwen’s expression barely shifted. He did not even look surprised.

That girl had secrets buried deep within her.

That she was capable of this was not surprising in the slightest.

“How did she get out?” Chi Jingwen asked. “Did I not station people to watch her? How did she manage to slip away?”

“Family Head.” The warrior continued. “Every guard posted to watch the Second Miss was drugged unconscious.”

“No one knows how she escaped.”

Chi Jingwen’s brow furrowed. “Everyone was knocked out? How did she manage that?”

“Wait. Where is Xiyan?”

The warrior lowered his head. “The Young Miss has also disappeared along with the Second Miss. There is no trace of either of them.”

Chi Jingwen’s expression finally changed. “What did you say?!”

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The warrior could feel Chi Jingwen’s fury bearing down, but the family head had asked a direct question, so he had no choice but to press on. “Family Head, the Young Miss and the Second Miss have both vanished!”

“The guards stationed beside the Young Miss were also drugged and rendered unconscious!”

Chi Jingwen’s face darkened further.

To still be in denial at this point would be nothing but self-deception.

“This was Xiyan’s doing.”

“Chi Muxue was also brought back by Xiyan. Could it mean… she truly has some connection to whoever is pulling the strings?”

Fresh anger surged in Chi Jingwen’s chest.

“Chi Xiyan, why would she do this?!”

“The Chi family has never treated her poorly!”

“Or perhaps… this was set in motion from the very beginning by that biological father of hers?!”

Just as Chi Jingwen was lost in thought, a voice broke through his silence.

“Family Head Chi, do you want the answers that badly?”

“Who’s there?!”

Chi Jingwen’s head snapped up.

This was the very center of the Chi family’s formation. How had an outsider gotten in?

What answered his question was a bolt of sharp, piercing sword light.

“Family Head, watch out!”