"Are we really going to be trapped here forever?" Qiuju's voice trembled as she looked at Rong Zhi, tears welling in her eyes. "It's all your fault! If you hadn't stopped us from leaving yesterday, we would have been long gone."
Xia He and Dong Mei also glared at Rong Zhi in anger, clearly blaming her for their predicament.
Rong Zhi retorted, "And do you think you would have been able to leave even if you had gone yesterday?"
They had already fallen into a trap, and there was no escaping it, no matter what.
Silence fell over the room. The girls lowered their heads, anxious but not entirely losing their senses.
"Chun Tao was right. We've been powerless from the very beginning."
Dong Mei let out a wry smile. She couldn't believe she had been so naive, thinking the butler genuinely wanted to give them a good future and foolishly attempting to seduce the general.
"It seems we can only wait here to die," Xia He said listlessly, looking up at the ceiling.
They did nothing the entire day, each lying on their beds lost in thought. Soon, the other three fell asleep.
Rong Zhi appeared to be daydreaming, but she was actually recalling if there had been any similar mystical arts in her past life that could trap people in one place.
However, the harder she tried to remember, the more blurred the memories became.
Rong Zhi's head began to ache. Was she truly going to wait for someone to rescue them?
Unbeknownst to them, three days had passed. The girls were visibly gaunt, their complexions dulled, their eyes devoid of sparkle, exuding an overwhelming sense of despair.
They had no food these past few days, surviving only on a few wild fruits, which only made them hungrier. What's more, for some inexplicable reason, the weather had turned colder, and even though it was late autumn, it shouldn't have chilled so rapidly. They huddled together for warmth.
Two more days passed. Rong Zhi was deep in sleep when she was suddenly jolted awake by a loud clang. She opened her eyes to see three slender, bare feet dangling mid-air. The other girls had hanged themselves from the ceiling beams.
Rong Zhi cried out in alarm and immediately leaped up, catching them all. She checked their pulses and was relieved to find they were still breathing.
She quickly pinched their philtrums to revive them.
Dong Mei was the first to regain consciousness. She coughed twice and, upon seeing Rong Zhi, weakly said, "Chun Tao, my throat hurts so much. Am I dying?"
Rong Zhi frowned, catching the bewilderment in the other woman's eyes. "Do you know that you just hanged yourself from the ceiling beam?"
Dong Mei was astonished. "How could I? I barely have the strength to speak, let alone hang myself... *cough cough*."
What she said made sense. Hanging oneself was, after all, a physically demanding act, and Dong Mei didn't seem to be lying.
Qiuju and Xia He also gradually woke up, exhibiting the same reactions as Dong Mei. They had no memory of their actions.
Could they have been possessed again?
"This is truly bizarre," Rong Zhi couldn't help but exclaim.
Meanwhile, in a remote courtyard within the imperial city, a familiar face sat amidst a pile of candles. Before him was a peculiar statue resembling a mythical beast, but with a ferocious appearance. The beast cradled a candlestick in its arms.
The man formed a hand seal and extended his hand towards the candlestick, but it remained unchanged. After repeating this several times with the same result, he sighed.
Just then, footsteps echoed from outside. Xia Jin pushed the door open and his expression turned grim as he took in the scene.
"How can this be? The Yin Gathering Formation cannot be activated? Is this the best your Blood Drinker Pavilion can do, Li Hao?"
Li Hao stood up and snorted, "Everything was prepared according to your instructions. Why don't you blame your own flawed method?"
"My method is absolutely foolproof. Xia Yun Ting is already suspicious. If this fails, I'll be completely exposed."
Xia Jin squeezed past Li Hao and approached the statue. He quickly formed the same hand seal as Li Hao, but his movements were much more fluid. Yet, the outcome was the same; the candlestick remained inert.
"Impossible. This Yin Gathering Formation only requires the lives of four women born in an yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour. Those women are trapped in that thatched hut and haven't been able to leave for days without food or water. According to the curse I placed on them, even if they didn't turn on each other, they should have committed suicide by now. How can the formation still be inactive?"
Li Hao sneered, "You're blaming me? Perhaps after all these years, you've forgotten how to use your own family's formations."
"Shut up!" Xia Jin glared at him. "You're just a deserter from Changping County, and you dare to boast in front of me!"
Li Hao's face paled at this. The incident in Changping County was his disgrace.
"There must be something wrong with the person," Xia Jin's eyes flashed with a sharp glint. "I suspected that woman from the start, but I couldn't find anything. Now, it seems the problem lies with her."
Li Hao asked, confused, "What person?"
It was now the seventh day. Rong Zhi looked at the semi-conscious girls lying on the bed, her irritation growing with each passing moment.
Seven days had passed, and she still hadn't found a solution. Worse still, she had no idea what Xia Jin's objective was. Was it to cause chaos, as he had before, to lure Xia Yun Ting into a trap?
But now, these girls had left the imperial city. Even if something happened, it wouldn't be connected to Xia Yun Ting.
As she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard footsteps outside. Rong Zhi quickly lay down and feigned death.
With a bang, the door was kicked open, and a masked figure in black entered. He froze for a moment upon seeing the four people on the bed, then turned each of them over to examine them. When he reached Rong Zhi, he pulled out a portrait, compared it, nodded, and then drew a dagger, plunging it towards her.
The dagger gleamed menacingly. This thrust would surely kill Rong Zhi. However, before the dagger could touch her, the black-clothed man's movements stiffened, and he became completely immobile.
Rong Zhi rose and pulled down his mask. Upon seeing his face, she was slightly surprised.
Li Hao, an old acquaintance.
Why was he here? Was he the mastermind behind all this? Was it all related to the Blood Drinker Pavilion?
As she pondered, Rong Zhi's expression suddenly darkened. She dodged to the side as a silver-flashing dart shot in through the window. It struck Li Hao directly in the chest, yet he showed no reaction.
Rong Zhi had sealed his vital meridians, and even his senses, so he felt no pain and was bleeding.
A familiar voice echoed from outside.
"You truly are not Chun Tao."
Rong Zhi stepped outside to find a person standing in front of the thatched hut. Though dressed in black and with a black cloth covering his face, his voice and build revealed him to be Xia Jin.
Had he been outside all along? Rong Zhi's heart tightened. After starving for seven days, her vigilance had clearly diminished, failing to even notice someone outside.
"So that's why my Yin Gathering Formation didn't work. It turns out one of these four women is a fake," Xia Jin's voice was filled with a furious sense of betrayal.
"Yin Gathering Formation?" Rong Zhi scoffed. "I don't care who you are, but do you know that using such a formation in Tian Que Kingdom is punishable by death? I advise you to stop immediately."
Xia Jin let out a playful "Oh?" "You're not old, yet you know about the Yin Gathering Formation. Are you also..." He stopped himself mid-sentence. "It doesn't matter whether you are or not. Why did you infiltrate the General's mansion? What is your plan?"
"Naturally, I was captivated by the General's beauty," Rong Zhi said with a light laugh. "Who doesn't know that Xia Yun Ting achieved great military feats at such a young age and is also strikingly handsome? What maiden wouldn't like him? It so happened that I overheard these girls planning to enter the General's mansion, and then the girl named Chun Tao died. So, I impersonated her, wanting to get closer to this legendary General."
Xia Jin hesitated, seemingly pondering the veracity of her words. It was true that after returning to court, many young women had set their sights on the General. During Xia Yun Ting's absence from the mansion, some women had come calling, but the mansion's guards were stern, and the General was betrothed by imperial decree, which deterred those women.
Rong Zhi's explanation was plausible, but Xia Jin wasn't easily convinced.
"Was it at Xia Yun Ting's command?"
Rong Zhi replied, "Yes."
Xia Jin suddenly became wary. He then heard Rong Zhi continue, "And so what if it was? And so what if it wasn't?"
"You're glib-tongued and ruined my plans. Do you think I'll let you go?"
Rong Zhi subtly drew a row of silver needles from her sleeve. "Enough talk, let's do this!"
Rong Zhi had been simmering with anger for days and was eager for a good fight. It was better to confront them directly than to be used as a pawn.
As soon as she spoke, the other party suddenly attacked, leaping towards Rong Zhi. At the same time, Rong Zhi caught a strange scent.
This...
She covered her nose and stumbled back a large step, her body swaying as she knelt on the ground.
Seeing this, Xia Jin couldn't help but burst into laughter. "I thought you had great martial skills, but you're just like this. It seems I overestimated you."
He walked closer and reached out to touch Rong Zhi's face, searching for an opening in her mask.
"I want to see who you really are."
Just as he was intently searching, Rong Zhi suddenly revealed a smile. In that smile, Xia Jin's eyes widened in shock.
Rong Zhi slowly stood up, but Xia Jin remained in his searching posture, his hands still outstretched, looking quite comical.
"How can you..."
"How can I still move? Right?" Rong Zhi looked at Xia Jin mockingly. "You dare to use such an outdated sleeping powder? I've been using and discarding this stuff for ages."
Xia Jin looked incredulous. "Impossible! This is impossible!" The rosemary he used was a family heirloom, and no one knew the antidote. Anyone who inhaled it would become weak and powerless.
Yet, not only had she countered it, but she had also sealed his acupoints while under its influence. "Who exactly are you?"
"Who I am is not important. Haven't you heard? There's always someone stronger, and one mountain is higher than another. You are a descendant of a mystical family from Cang Zhu County, and you think you're well-hidden. But there are many knowledgeable people in this world. You shouldn't underestimate me just because I'm young and assume I wouldn't know your rosemary."
Xia Jin stared intently at Rong Zhi, trying to see through her mask. Unfortunately, he couldn't move at all, let alone see through anything.
Rong Zhi paced before Xia Jin, each step exuding an immense pressure. She looked at him, her voice cold, "I have no other demands. Release those girls, lift your formation, and I can let this matter pass. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Xia Jin suddenly wore a strange smile. "Do you think I would come here without any backup?"
His laughter echoed in the night, and with his voice, the ground began to tremble. A creaking sound emanated from below, like the clatter of countless bones.
Rong Zhi's expression darkened. This was...