Wuxia: Become the 100-Victory Sword King at the Beginning

Chapter 399. The Secret Manual of Xuan Palace Incites a Thousand Hatreds: Nangong's Poisonous Scheme Shocks the Wild Goose
Although he was heartbroken by Nangong Xiaodie's resolute departure, Shi Feiyang would not leave Yihua Palace.

His life goal was to marry Yaoyue and Lianxing. However, Nangong Xiaodie stopped and turned around not far from Nangong Wan, seemingly hoping that Shi Feiyang would chase after her.

Xiao Chong also stopped, but seeing Nangong Xiaodie's appearance, he was taken aback. He also saw Shi Feiyang take off and fly in another direction. Clearly, Shi Feiyang had returned to Yihua Palace.

Xiao Chong couldn't help but sigh, "Miss Xiao Die, it seems your father's honey trap didn't work! He tormented your brother to death, but Shi Feiyang didn't fall into the trap and take you to the Yihua Palace! This... this Shi Feiyang, what's going on? He's been sleeping with you for months, but he doesn't seem to have any feelings for you!" Nangong Xiao Die immediately buried her face in her hands, squatted down, and burst into tears, feeling both ashamed and angry.

A moment later, He Qiulian flew over and questioned Xiao Chong, "What happened? Where is that bastard Shi Feiyang?"

Xiao Chong sighed, "Big sister, we've all failed. That kid Shi Feiyang isn't falling for it. Before, when I pretended to have a conflict with you, Shi Feiyang, being chivalrous, saved me and took me to Nangong Wan. However, he never intended to take Xiaodie and me to Yihua Palace. This time, even with the beauty trap and the self-inflicted injury, he still isn't fooled and still won't take us into Yihua Palace."

He Qiulian was furious, her whip lashing against the stone pillar, sending shards of stone flying. "What a cunning fox!" she cried. Suddenly, she turned and stared at Nangong Xiaodie, who was slumped on the ground. "Tell me! He's been in your room for months, and he hasn't revealed a single secret about the Yihua Palace?"

Nangong Xiaodie trembled all over, her nails digging deep into her palms: "He...he only talked to me about romance and nature every day, and never..." Before she could finish speaking, she was already sobbing uncontrollably. She remembered those nights when Shi Feiyang lay beside her, gazing at the bright moon outside the window and murmuring to himself. Now, those tender words seemed to be separated by a thousand layers of mist.

"Useless! Didn't you let him sleep with you for nothing? Bah! Useless thing! You have such a pretty face, but you're a brainless slut!" He Qiulian kicked over a stone next to her and cursed Nangong Xiaodie.

"The Thunderfire Camp has been planning for ten years, just waiting for this Lotus Sutra! Now we've lost Nangong Wen's life, and we haven't even touched the threshold of the Flower Palace!" He Qiulian vented her anger, then suddenly turned her head, a fierce glint in her eyes, "Xiao Chong, now that you've joined us, go and investigate that kid's background again tomorrow!"

Xiao Chong remained silent, gently bandaging Nangong Xiaodie's wound.

His fingertips touched the old wound on her wrist—it was three days ago, when she had cut herself with a dagger to cooperate with the plan. “Big sister,” he finally spoke, his voice low, “Shi Feiyang may seem carefree, but he is actually very shrewd. Our plan was probably already within his calculations.”

Just then, a furious roar came from deep within Nangongwan.

Nangong Jun, leaning on a cane and supported by Nangong Yuchuan, staggered over. The old man's white hair was disheveled, and his dragon-patterned robe was covered in dust; he was nowhere to be seen the former majesty of the head of a noble family: "That Shi Feiyang! He deceived me into believing I was a girl, and then killed my son!"

He suddenly coughed violently, blood seeping from between his fingers. "Yu Chuan, tomorrow you will take all your men and raze Yi Hua Palace to the ground!"

Nangong Yuchuan chuckled sinisterly, twirling his Yin Sha Claws, the purplish-black nails gleaming eerily in the moonlight. "Father, rest assured, I am determined to obtain the Lotus Sutra. Even if it means washing the entire martial world in blood..." His gaze swept over He Qiulian, "...some people also need to be dealt with properly." Hearing the Nangong father and son's nonsense, Xiao Chong almost burst out laughing, quickly covering his mouth, struggling to hold it in!

He Qiulian snorted coldly, and her nine-section whip suddenly wrapped around Nangong Yuchuan's neck: "Second Young Master Nangong, don't forget who your allies are." Her whip gradually tightened, "If it weren't for the help of the Thunderfire Camp, your Nangong family would have been razed to the ground by the Yihua Palace long ago."

Upon seeing this, Xiao Chong immediately drew his sword and stood ready: "Enough! With a formidable enemy at hand, do you still intend to kill each other?"

His goose-feather saber flashed with a cold light. "The Flower Palace is our number one enemy. It forces all the major gangs and martial arts sects in the world to submit to it and pay tribute, thus offending everyone in the martial arts world. However, the most urgent task is to find a way to break the Flower Palace's Peach Blossom Formation!"

As night deepened, the commotion within Nangong Wan gradually subsided. Nangong Xiaodie sat alone before her brother's mourning hall, gazing at the flickering candlelight, tears silently streaming down her face. She recalled the first time Shi Feiyang had scaled the wall to enter; he had a wildflower in his mouth, promising to take her to see the beauty of the martial world.

Now, those vows have turned into wisps of smoke before the spirit tablet, dissipating into the cold night.

The night in Yihua Palace was shrouded in a chill that had lasted for a thousand years, but Shi Feiyang complained that the underfloor heating in the kitchen was burning too brightly, so he simply removed the carved window frames and leaned casually against the cold white marble window frame.

The Xuan Shuang Blade twirled between his fingertips, leaving a gleaming afterimage. Sometimes it grazed the icicles in the corner of the wall, scattering tiny sparks of light; other times, it held up half a piece of osmanthus sugar cake, gesturing towards the waning moon in the sky: "They say the moon shines brightest in one's hometown, but in my opinion, this sugar cake must have been stolen to be sweet." "What kind of twisted logic are you spouting now?" The sound of the Lianxing Palace Mistress's jade flute pierced the night, her voice arriving before her. Her white skirt swept across the peach blossoms scattered on the ground, and the jasmine at her temple, glistening with night dew, was even more beautiful than the newly picked blossoms on the table.

Upon seeing this, Shi Feiyang immediately put on a heartbroken expression, and stuck the Xuan Shuang Blade into the windowsill with a clang: "Master has finally arrived! I was just feeling indignant for this osmanthus flower—it's from the same soil and water of the Yihua Palace, so why can't it produce the same captivating sweetness as Nangong Wan's?"

He spoke with great emotion, then suddenly leaned closer, his nose almost touching Lianxing's reddened earlobe: "Could it be that the flower goddess in the palace is biased and has poured all the honeydew outside the palace?" Before he finished speaking, the jade flute smacked him on the forehead, startling him into a burst of laughter: "Good! This 'Jade Flute Knocking on the Mountain' is even more accurate than my 'Mysterious Frost Acupoint Strike,' has Master perhaps secretly learned my signature skill?"

Lianxing smiled faintly, turned to fetch the soup pot from the table, only to find Shi Feiyang had somehow gotten behind her, his chin almost resting on her shoulder: "Wow! This 'Jadeite and White Jade Soup' looks even better than Palace Mistress Yaoyue's complexion, it's just a little lacking..."

He suddenly pulled out a package of oiled paper and proudly unfolded it, "This is my secret stash of saffron from the Western Regions! I heard that if you mix it into soup, it can make a beauty smile and reveal her dimples!" Lianxing was so amused by him that she almost knocked over the soup ladle. When she turned around in feigned anger, she saw him staring blankly at the soup pot.

The candlelight softened his features, and his earlier playful smile vanished, leaving only a deep, unyielding melancholy in his eyes.

She suddenly remembered hearing from the guards during the day that Nangong Wan had been covered in blood last night. She swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue and only said softly, "If you want to eat osmanthus flowers outside the palace, I can have the flower servants pick some another day."

Upon hearing this, Shi Feiyang snapped back to reality, immediately donning his signature roguish grin, his Xuan Shuang Blade flicking a peach blossom: "No, no! I know the rules of Yihua Palace—outsiders aren't allowed a single step inside, not even the wind or birds have to shed a layer of feathers to get in!" He deliberately lowered his voice, pretending to look out the window: "There might be a pair of eyes watching us right now, waiting to catch me red-handed!"

He spoke with great conviction, unaware that in the shadows outside the palace walls, He Qiulian's fingernails had dug deeply into her palms. She hid in a blind spot on the outer edge of the Peach Blossom Formation, her nine-section whip wrapped with poisonous barbs, gleaming eerily green in the moonlight.

Looking at Shi Feiyang and Lianxing chatting and laughing, and thinking of the men and horses that Nangong Wan had lost, the killing intent rising in his chest almost burst out of his throat.

"Shi Feiyang!" she gritted her teeth inwardly, her whip silently snapping the withered branches beside her. "That day in the martial arts arena, you used 'Shifting Flowers and Jade' to deflect my poisoned nails. Today, you will pay a hundredfold!"

Her gaze swept over the towering walls of the Yihua Palace, and she suddenly let out a cold laugh—the Peach Blossom Formation was hailed as the most wondrous formation in the world, but even the strongest fortress could be breached from within. At that moment, inside the kitchen, Shi Feiyang was magically producing an ice sculpture from his sleeve.

The ice sculpture was so lifelike that it depicted Lianxing playing the flute, with even the folds of her skirt rendered in exquisite detail: "Look! This was carved by me using Mingyu Gong, ten times better than the ice sculpting masters in the palace!"

He suddenly leaned closer and lowered his voice, saying, "But there's a secret—I slipped halfway through carving and used Palace Mistress Yaoyue's ice shards as a carving knife. Will you keep this from me, Master?" Lianxing laughed at his words, but she didn't notice that his gaze toward the palace wall suddenly sharpened like an eagle's.

Shi Feiyang may seem to be playing around, but he has actually already absorbed the changes in the surrounding atmosphere.

The gentle breeze just now carried the faint smell of sulfur from the Thunderfire Camp's unique gunpowder, while the distinctive whistling sound of He Qiulian's nine-section whip lingered faintly at the edge of the Peach Blossom Formation. "Master," he suddenly became serious, twirling the Frost Blade in his palm with a sharp sword flourish, "if one day someone tries to dig a hole from here and sneak into the Flower-Shifting Palace..."

He feigned a look of terror, "Should I use my sword to skewer him like a candied hawthorn, or should I use the Mingyu Kung Fu to freeze him into an ice lantern?"

Lianxing smiled and shook her head, turning to fetch the soup she had prepared, but she didn't see the fleeting cold glint in Shi Feiyang's eyes.

Outside the palace walls, He Qiulian had already quietly retreated, while Shi Feiyang's fingertips were gently tracing the pattern of the Xuan Shuang Blade to indicate the location of Nangong Wan—there lay unpaid emotional debts, and hidden within were wolves eyeing the Yihua Palace.

The moonlight tonight illuminates the laughter and merriment in the kitchen, but it cannot penetrate the murderous intent lurking in the shadows.

(End of this chapter)