Qi Yuan looked at him coldly, then, without the slightest hesitation, pulled a cloth pouch from her belt, opened it on the ground, revealing rows of golden needles.
Golden needles.
Qilin immediately started struggling violently. “What are you doing?! What are you trying to do?!”
Qi Yuan’s face was expressionless as she pressed down on his face. “You’d better not move. You’re a martial artist—you should know that if I jab the wrong acupuncture point, you could end up paralyzed on one side. If you don’t believe me… feel free to try.”
Qilin froze completely, not daring to move at all. But he couldn’t stop himself from cursing, “You vicious, venomous woman! You’re utterly ruthless! His Highness cares for you deeply. Even ordering us to stay in the capital, he never intended to hurt you—he just wanted to bring you to Hongdu!”
……
Qi Yuan glanced at him.
She couldn’t help but find Qi Wang absolutely laughable.
Utterly ridiculous.
This man had always been this way—trampling on her dignity, suppressing her abilities, harming her family, cutting off her limbs—and yet he kept calling it love.
Such love was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
With a pinch of her fingers, Qi Yuan picked up a golden needle and stabbed it straight into the tiger’s mouth acupoint on Qilin’s hand.
Qilin let out a sharp scream, trembling uncontrollably. “What are you doing to me?! What do you want?!”
“I don’t have much patience.” Qi Yuan picked up a second needle, her face blank as she stared him down. “What exactly did you people do for Feng Caiwei? How did she end up so arrogant, acting like she had the victory in hand? How did she manage to get Xiao Jingzhao to agree to marry her?”
Feng Caiwei was dead.
But this time, by a twist of fate, Xiao Jingzhao had become the center of attention.
It wasn’t that Qi Yuan couldn’t stand Xiao Jingzhao succeeding.
But it had to be by his own abilities—not by relying on such disgraceful tricks.
So that’s what she’s after!
Qilin felt his heart sink lower and lower. His terror of Qi Yuan rose to another level entirely.
He never imagined that such a terrifying woman could exist.
She could catch even the faintest of clues from the smallest details.
He shuddered, gritted his teeth, and sneered coldly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Qi Yuan let out a light laugh. “Oh really?”
Without the slightest hesitation, she stabbed the golden needle into the Sanzu Li acupoint on his leg.
Qilin immediately broke into a cold sweat, leaping up involuntarily.
The two golden needles still trembled in his acupoints.
Qi Yuan expressionlessly kicked him hard in the backside, sending him sprawling back onto the ground.
Qilin cried out again.
Glaring at Qi Yuan through gritted teeth, he cursed, “You won’t die a good death! You will never die a good death!”
Unfortunately, such curses had absolutely no effect on Qi Yuan.
She crouched down again, calmly took out another needle, and asked lightly, “So? Keep going?”
Everyone else in the room was utterly horrified.
This Qi eldest miss—she wasn’t human at all!
News from Hongdu had said that any method was fine to capture Qi Yuan.
Cutting off her hands and feet, crippling her martial arts, even ripping out her tongue—anything was allowed.
But looking at her now… who the h*ll would dare try to rip out her tongue?!
Qilin laid face down on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, but gritted his teeth and said nothing.
Qi Yuan picked up another needle, then, targeting his Xuanzhong acupoint, stabbed it in sharply.
Qilin let out a terrible scream and rolled on the ground, unable to endure any longer.
Qi Yuan stood with arms crossed, watching him coldly, not a ripple of emotion in her eyes.
She knew perfectly well—Qi Wang had placed Qilin by Feng Caiwei’s side for no good reason.
If not for her discovering this early, had Feng Caiwei been more patient, waited longer, with Qilin around… who knows what disaster would’ve happened?
She had fought so hard to get to this point.
She was this close to living a normal life.
Anyone who stood in her way was her enemy.
And they deserved to die.
Qilin howled in pain, watching as Qi Yuan, completely unmoved, pulled out another needle. At last, he broke down, crying out, “His Highness just wanted us to bring you back to Hongdu! His Highness loves you, that’s all!”
Love?
The kind of love that meant crippling her, cutting off her limbs, turning her into a human pig?
Qi Yuan chuckled softly, then dragged her fingers across Qilin’s body, stopping at one spot. Her voice was soft, almost playful. “This here… this is your life gate. If I stick the needle in… you’ll die.”
Qilin went completely pale with fright.
Only then did Qi Yuan calmly ask, “Well? Talk, or not?”
Qilin finally couldn’t hold out anymore.
He knew perfectly well—Qi Yuan was impossible to deal with.
Zhuque, Xuanwu, Baihu—all of them had died at her hands.
And yet, despite thinking he’d hidden so well this time, never revealing a trace of himself from beginning to end, she’d still caught him.
Worse, Qi Yuan was even more ruthless now than before.
At last, Qilin completely broke down. “What the h*ll do you want me to say?! What do you want to know?!”
Qi Yuan sat down leisurely on the stool that Shunzi had brought over, her voice deep. “Just tell me everything you know. Do I really need to ask?”
……
This d*mn woman…
Qilin gritted his teeth.
But he had no choice.
He knew—reason wouldn’t work with Qi Yuan.
Neither would lies.
Otherwise… it would be a fate worse than death.
He could only lower his voice, trembling as he admitted, “His Highness ordered us to help Feng Caiwei forge Nanan County Prince’s personal seal… and had Feng Caiwei promise to help Nanan County Prince assassinate the Crown Prince…”
Qi Yuan wasn’t surprised at all by that last part.
Xiao Yunting had gone to Hongdu partly for disaster relief—but also to assassinate Qi Wang.
And Qi Wang, that kind of person, would absolutely stop at nothing to kill Xiao Yunting.
Her heart tightened. “The Imperial Grandson is highly skilled in martial arts. His Majesty even assigned him an elite guard. What makes Feng Caiwei—or Qi Wang—so sure they could actually kill him?”
If they couldn’t beat Xiao Yunting in the capital, why would they be able to in Hongdu?
Qilin hesitated, lips sealed.
Qi Yuan immediately kicked him hard.
Qilin trembled, lips pale, then stammered, “It… it’s not His Highness himself. It’s… it’s Xu Hai…”
Qi Yuan froze.
All the calm confidence on her face vanished in an instant.
Xu Hai.
The deadliest fighter under the Japanese pirates.
Back in Changle, it was Xu Hai who led over six hundred pirates ashore and slaughtered an entire village. Qi Yuan, along with the local monk militia, fought against him.
They suffered devastating losses.
Just thinking about it, Qi Yuan’s heart throbbed in pain.
There had been a little monk—only twelve years old.
A wandering ascetic.
He believed that if he endured more suffering, the world’s suffering would be less.
And he lived that belief—dying in the freezing ocean, protecting the villagers.
At that thought—Qi Yuan’s killing intent surged to the point of madness.
Between her and Xu Hai—there was truly a sea of blood.
