The bodies were grotesque, gaping with blood-red mouths. Their empty eye sockets spewed forth bloodshot veins, and their entire skeletal structures were grotesquely expanded, as if steeped in venom.
This sight appeared on the cave walls, making the skeletal figures seem alive, imposing.
The surrounding air was chillingly somber.
At this moment, Nangong Mo and Ouyang Qinglin’s attention remained fixed on Gu Qianying.
Gu Qianying’s red eyes were filled only with a bloodthirsty killing intent, devoid of any familiar emotion.
“Qianying, you…”
Nangong Mo reached out his hand, attempting to grasp her.
“Bang!”
A powerful force struck him abruptly. He was sent reeling back several meters, his sturdy back slamming hard against the cave wall behind him.
*Whoosh!*
The skeletal figures on the cave wall suddenly came alive. Using their elongated fingers, they pried open the crevices in the wall, their heads emerging. Their sharp claws slashed through the air, and with a flick of their wrists, they instantly choked Nangong Mo.
Nangong Mo’s expression turned cold. His long sword spun in his palm, descending from the air and landing back in his grasp. He gripped it in reverse and fiercely slashed at the fingers of the skeletal figures.
The roots of five fingers fell to the ground.
The movement of the tall skeletal figures paused. Nangong Mo seized this opening, turning to evade the monstrous skeletal figures.
On Ouyang Qinglin’s side, the moment Nangong Mo retreated, he had already shifted his stance defensively. However, the speed of his palm strike was no match for Gu Qianying’s swift action.
Gu Qianying teleported in front of Ouyang Qinglin. Just before he could strike, she quickly delivered a palm strike to him.
“Pfft!”
Ouyang Qinglin clutched his shoulder and spat out a mouthful of blood. He looked up at Gu Qianying, a sinister smile curving his lips. “Little thing, you dare try to kill me? Don’t you recognize this Prince? This Prince is Ouyang Qinglin!”
Seeing the unfamiliar look in Gu Qianying’s eyes as she gazed at him, Ouyang Qinglin found it very strange.
Was the witchcraft from the Xia Kingdom truly taught by this little thing, Gu Qianying?
But why would this little thing, Gu Qianying, suddenly not recognize him?
This was too bizarre!
“Qianying, girl, what’s wrong with you? I’m Nangong Mo, don’t you recognize me?”
Nangong Mo walked up to Gu Qianying, looking at her with deep affection.
From Gu Qianying’s eyes, he also sensed an immense unfamiliarity.
Even if Gu Qianying was the Violet Plume Maiden, so what?
Regardless of her identity, she was still the one he loved most in his heart.
“No, something is very wrong! Everything here is wrong!”
Nangong Mo suddenly realized that something was amiss.
Even if Gu Qianying were the Violet Plume Maiden or a demoness, it wouldn’t change the fact that they knew each other. Yet, Gu Qianying’s current gaze towards him and Ouyang Qinglin was one of complete strangeness, and her movements were like those of an unfeeling puppet assassin.
This shouldn’t be! Unless she was… controlled!
Yes! That was it!
This explanation was logical, and thus, everything became clear.
Gu Qianying’s mind was controlled, but by whom?
Was it that monstrous skeletal figure? Or the poisonous creatures gnawing on bones around them? Or perhaps…
Nangong Mo’s cold gaze suddenly flickered towards Ouyang Qinglin beside him.
A single palm strike, spitting blood, was not fatal. If this was intentional, then everything made sense.
A glint of killing intent flashed in his eyes.
“Die!”
Nangong Mo gripped his long sword and lunged fiercely at Ouyang Qinglin.
At this moment, not far away, Gu Qianying slowly opened her eyes. As her hand touched the ground and she prepared to rise, she turned her head and suddenly saw Nangong Mo and Ouyang Qinglin fighting. They were fighting desperately, utterly disregarding each other’s lives.
During the fight, both of them were muttering loudly about killing or dying, or about the Violet Plume Maiden and sorcerers.
What were they talking about?
And why were they fighting?
Gu Qianying was filled with confusion.
Naturally,
From Gu Qianying’s perspective, there was nothing on the cave walls. Beside the large pool, only Ouyang Qinglin and Nangong Mo were fighting.
Gu Qianying couldn’t understand why Nangong Mo and Ouyang Qinglin were fighting, and why they were so intent on a fight to the death.
At this moment, Gu Qianying had no red hair, and her eyes held no bloodthirsty killing intent.
The surroundings were all ordinary, still the same cave where they had fallen in. The area around the cave was empty, with only a pool of water in the center and nothing else.
However, when the three of them were soaking in the pool earlier, she had a moment of absentmindedness. Images, both unfamiliar and familiar, flashed through her mind. These images gradually magnified, forming a powerful, invisible aura that made it difficult for her to breathe. Fortunately, she took out a silver needle and pricked it into her Baihui acupoint, regaining her consciousness.
During the needling process, she had fainted from exhaustion.
After waking up, she saw Ouyang Qinglin and Nangong Mo fighting.
But it was strange that Ouyang Qinglin and Nangong Mo seemed to see things she couldn’t, and they were babbling nonsensically, talking about “girl” and “little thing” to a certain spot.
Combining the strange phenomena from before with the current bizarre behavior of Ouyang Qinglin and Nangong Mo, she felt as if she were in a different world from them.
This was like being poisoned by… an illusionary toxin, entering a hallucination.
Yes! That was it!
Hadn’t she been the same just now?
Lightly leaping up, her feet stepped on the protruding stones on the cave wall, and she teleported to Nangong Mo and Ouyang Qinglin. “Stop fighting!”
Two silver needles under her sleeves shot out rapidly, piercing the “Baihui acupoints” of Nangong Mo and Ouyang Qinglin respectively, the same points she had pricked on herself.
Nangong Mo and Ouyang Qinglin both froze for a moment. The visions they saw instantly vanished, and they regained their senses. The three of them stood together on the ground.
“What happened?”
Ouyang Qinglin looked around. Everything around them remained unchanged, but he seemed to have seen a different scene.
Nangong Mo’s brows were furrowed. Similar to Ouyang Qinglin, the confusion in his eyes was evident.
“Illusionary toxin! All three of us have been poisoned by an illusionary toxin, experiencing different hallucinations. The hallucinations you two saw might be the same, but after experiencing the hallucinations, based on your own thoughts, the scenes you saw would be slightly different.”
With that said,
Gu Qianying walked to the edge of the pool, took out a silver needle, and inserted the other end into the pool. When she pulled it out, the other end of the needle had turned black.
“This pool water is indeed problematic. Poison powder has been added to the water, which is the cause of the illusionary toxin that afflicted all three of us.”
Listening to Gu Qianying’s words, Nangong Mo and Ouyang Qinglin also walked over.
They glanced at Gu Qianying, then looked at each other, and simultaneously asked, “What did you see?”
They both paused, neither speaking, but they glanced at Gu Qianying, their meaning as clear as day.
Nangong Mo’s cold eyes flashed with a chilling light. “You’re seeking death!”
Ouyang Qinglin smiled sinisterly. “The feeling is mutual!”
“Continue fighting!”
“I’ll accompany you to the end!”
Gu Qianying: “…”
She took two detox pills from her medicine pouch and handed them to Ouyang Qinglin and Nangong Mo. “Eat these; they can resolve the illusionary toxin.”
Ouyang Qinglin took the detox pills from Gu Qianying’s hand and swallowed them without hesitation.
Meanwhile, as Nangong Mo reached out to take the detox pills from Gu Qianying’s hand, she immediately let go just as his hand was about to touch hers.
The distance she created was very deliberate.
Nangong Mo’s face darkened, wishing he could chew the detox pill in his mouth into pieces.