Brocade Robe Unparalleled

Chapter 143 Youmeng's Revenge

Dark as ink.

Under the moonlight, the high walls of the Tian residence were only a blurry outline.

A slender figure, like a ghost, silently crossed the courtyard wall and disappeared into the night.

In a secluded alleyway, she stopped, took out a porcelain bottle engraved with spirit patterns from her sleeve, and uncorked it.

A Gu worm leaped out and landed precisely in her outstretched palm.

at the same time.

Anfu.

In the secluded courtyard, a figure who was meditating suddenly opened his eyes.

She stretched out her palm, and a Gu worm connected to her blood and qi quickly crawled onto her hand.

The once calm Gu worm suddenly became restless, conveying a familiar tremor to her.

Mandala's pupils constricted, her face filled with disbelief.

After the initial shock, an overwhelming surge of joy welled up inside me.

Heart-Eating Gu!
She actually sensed the presence of the Heart-Eating Gu!
But shouldn't this Gu worm perish along with Lin Xuan's death?
A thought she dared not even dare to hope for uncontrollably surged into her mind.

Could it be... that he didn't die?
Overwhelmed with joy, she instantly lost her senses and leaped over the courtyard wall, immediately chasing after the direction the mother Gu had sensed.

The Gu worm kept moving, and she chased it all the way to the outskirts of the city.

When she reached a steep cliff, her body suddenly stopped, and she slowly came to a halt.

Ahead, a figure in black robes stood with his back to her on the edge of the cliff, his robes fluttering in the mountain wind.

Her heart leaped into her throat, and she even began to breathe cautiously.

She took a deep breath and tentatively asked in a trembling, almost incoherent voice, "Is it...you?"

The man in black robes slowly turned around, and from beneath the deep hood came a cold, hoarse voice, devoid of any emotion: "What are you expecting?"

That voice was hoarse and carried an endless chill; it could absolutely not be Lin Xuan!

Mandala felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave. After a moment of bewilderment, she immediately took several steps back, still clinging to a last shred of hope amidst her shock: "Who are you? Why is the Gu worm on you?!"

The man in black robes spoke calmly, revealing no emotion: "I obtained it from a dead person a few months ago. I never expected to encounter its mother Gu..."

Mandala's hopes were utterly shattered, her voice filled with suppressed rage and pain: "You killed him?"

The man in black robes was silent for a moment, then replied coldly, "So what if it is? The Heart-Eating Gu is a valuable item. Even if you can only obtain one, it is far superior to other Gu worms..."

"laugh--"

Her response was met with two cold glints of light shooting through the air, and a furious roar that cracked her voice.

"I will cut you into pieces!"

Mandala held two short blades, with only one crazy thought in his mind.

Kill her!

Kill her!

However, before her attack could even touch the hem of his clothes, a tearing pain suddenly shot through her mind!
In that instant, her mind went blank, as if she had lost control of her body, and the dagger in her hand clattered to the ground.

Psychic attack!

The opponent is a high-level sorcerer!
The scene seemed familiar, except that last time it was her enemy who was attacked, and this time, the mental attack that had once saved her life fell on him as retribution.

When she regained consciousness from that brief period of blankness, it was too late.

A slender, white hand emerged from the wide black robe and gripped her neck.

With just a little force, this hand could easily crush her throat.

The man in black robes spoke without a trace of emotion: "You're too weak."

Mandala slowly closed her eyes.

She was given a second chance at life.

If it weren't for that fourth-rank sorcerer's intervention, she would have died on the night the assassination attempt on the Yang family members failed.

Sister Black Lotus is right.

She can't be this lucky every time.

The man in black robes tightened his grip slightly, and a suffocating feeling gradually crept over him.

Just when she thought she would die tonight, the hand suddenly released her grip.

The man in black robes said calmly, "Do you think I would kill you like this? Since you enjoy using Gu poison on people so much, why don't you experience for yourself what it feels like to have Gu worms devour your heart..."

As she finished speaking, Mandala felt a sharp pain in her arm.

The mother Gu, seemingly under some command, bit through her skin and quickly burrowed into her blood vessels, soon reaching her heart.

She immediately realized that the other party's Gu technique was far superior to hers.

The Mother-Child Devouring Heart Gu is a type of Gu that thrives when the mother is strong, and can also devour its mother when the child is strong. The child Gu has been nurtured by the other party to be even stronger than the mother Gu, and can command the mother Gu in turn.

But she soon had no time to think about these things.

pain!
An indescribable, extreme pain suddenly exploded from my heart and instantly swept through my entire body!
She groaned and fell to the ground, curling up into a ball.

At that moment, all thoughts vanished instantly. The excruciating pain made her incredibly clear-headed, and this clarity amplified every bit of suffering.

Within a few breaths, cold sweat had soaked through her clothes.

Although she was skilled at using Gu poison, this was the first time she had personally experienced what it felt like to be poisoned.

As the excruciating pain slowly subsided like a receding tide, she collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted, unable to even lift a finger, and could only gasp for breath.

The man in black robes stood before her, looking down at her as if she were an ant, and asked indifferently, "How does it feel to have your heart devoured by Gu worms?"

The mandala did not respond, nor did it have the strength to respond.

At that moment, she completely forgot her situation, with only one thought swirling in her mind.

Was he in this much pain back then?

Intense shame and regret gnawed at her heart.

Since Lin Xuan's death, she had been living in a daze. Tonight, the hope that had been rekindled was ruthlessly extinguished, and she was now in such a desperate situation. Knowing that there was no hope of escape, she only wanted to die.

She closed her eyes, her voice hoarse, containing a hint of relief: "Do it..."

On the cliff, the night wind blows even faster.

Mandala lay curled up on the ground, her face as pale as paper, her clothes already soaked with cold sweat, her body trembling slightly from the lingering pain.

The woman in black robes stood silently at the edge of the cliff, her face obscured by a large hood, making it impossible to see her expression.

She suddenly bent down and casually ripped off the veil from Mandala's face.

Beneath the veil lay a face that was both beautiful and filled with despair.

In that instant, her eyes suddenly opened.

Under the moonlight, a deep-seated hatred erupted in those beautiful eyes. With a flick of her wrist, a poisoned glint of cold light pierced straight towards the black-robed man's throat!
However, her wrist was easily grasped by the man in black. Just as she had easily deflected Lin Xuan's dagger, the man in black snatched the poisoned dagger from her hand and held it against her neck, his voice still calm: "No need for futile struggles, you are no match for me."

Mandala knew, of course, that she was no match for this man.

The enemy who killed Lin Xuan was right in front of her, but she couldn't take revenge herself. The intense resentment almost consumed her.

She only regretted not cultivating properly; if she had Black Lotus's strength, she could avenge him tonight...

Heartbroken and disillusioned, she closed her eyes again, stretched out her long neck, and said calmly, "Kill me if you want. I'd be willing to die at the same hands as him..."

The man in black robes remained silent for a moment, then suddenly stood up and casually tossed the poisoned dagger off the bottomless cliff.

"That's all."

There was a very subtle change in her tone: "Actually, I was just kidding you. I didn't kill that person. I got this little Gu from the corpse of an official. I thought it was interesting, so I raised it and nurtured it a bit. I didn't expect to actually encounter its mother Gu. I was just joking with you, don't mind it..."

joke?

Mandala stared at her blankly.

The feeling of being devoured by Gu worms was worse than death, yet she thought it was a joke?
But when she thought about how she had treated Lin Xuan in the past, she suddenly couldn't say anything.

The man in black robes seemed intrigued and asked, "It seems you have a close relationship with the previous host of this Gu. If that's the case, why did you plant this Gu worm in him? Let me guess, could it be that he is your sweetheart, and you're afraid he'll fall for someone else, so you want to control him with the Gu worm?"

Mandala didn't speak. How she wished it were so, but from the moment she planted the Heart-Eating Gu in him and forced him to work for Nanzhao, she had already embarked on a path of no return.

She looked up at the woman in black robes. Her life and death were entirely in her hands, and she had no reason to lie to her.

After taking a deep breath, she asked the question that concerned her most: "Does Your Excellency know who killed him?"

There were other spies in the Secret Service within the Jingbian Division. Not long ago, she learned from one of them that the Yang family had not stolen the telescopes, meaning that the Yang family was not the one who killed Lin Xuan.

For her, in addition to avenging her parents, she now has another deep-seated blood feud to settle.

The man in black robes looked at her and asked, "Tell me first, who is he to you?"

Mandala looked at her, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "You guessed right, he was the one I loved. To make him love only me for the rest of his life, I planted the Heart-Eating Gu in him, but he was killed by thieves. I must avenge him..."

The man in black robes stared at her for a long time before shaking his head slightly and saying, "I don't know. When I passed by, he was already a corpse. I drew out the Gu worms from his body, but I know nothing else..."

She clapped her hands lightly and said, "Alright, we've had enough fun. See you again someday..."

As soon as she finished speaking, her figure drifted away and disappeared into the thick night, leaving only the howling wind on the cliff.

Mandala sat there blankly for a long time before slowly extending her palm.

Without the control of the offspring worm, she could easily control the mother worm to leave her body.

She covered her palm with true energy and clenched her fist without hesitation. The mother Gu exploded into a cloud of blood mist in her palm.

The offspring gu has already fallen into someone else's hands and has been nurtured to be even stronger than the mother gu. To continue keeping the mother gu by one's side is to hand over one's life to someone else.

Tonight, she survived again by sheer luck.

She shouldn't have rashly chased after him alone, but at that moment, she had no other thoughts but to catch up with Zi Gu and confirm if it was him...

However, all of this was ultimately just a dream.

She sat there blankly until dawn.

……

early morning.

Lin Xuan first went to the Jingbian Division to handle the accumulated trivial matters within the division, and then went to the Tian family.

The powerful members of the Xuanwu tribe are cultivating Gu worms in Dragon Cliff Mountain. Those who remain in the city are all young geniuses. Like Aya, they are leaving the tribe for the first time and are full of curiosity about the outside world.

Qingluan was going to inspect the shops, so she gave each of them one hundred taels of silver and told them to browse around and buy whatever they liked.

Lin Xuan and You Meng went to Longya Mountain to check on the cultivation of Gu worms.

The Gu masters of the Xuanwu tribe would place a certain number of Gu worms in a jar, then sprinkle in a medicinal powder that could excite the Gu worms and arouse their ferocity.

The worms inside the jar fight each other to the death, and only one can survive in the end.

This sole winner will continue to fight against the winners from the other jars.

This cycle repeats many times, and what remains in the end is an unparalleled ferocious Gu, which can suppress ordinary Gu worms simply by the aura it emits.

The entire process will last several days.

Lin Xuan brought Youmeng to the mountaintop, which had been sealed off by the imperial court. Outsiders were not allowed to enter at will, and it was also forbidden to sell to any chieftain.

The former Longya Fortress clearly left a considerable shadow on the imperial court.

Standing on the roof of the main hall at the highest point of Longya Fortress, Lin Xuan looked down and turned to Youmeng, saying, "How about it? The scenery here is just as good as Ancestral Spirit Mountain, isn't it?"

Youmeng nodded gently, gathered her skirt, slowly sat down, wrapped her arms around her knees, and quietly gazed at the distant mountains.

Her gaze was serene, like a deep pool without ripples.

Lin Xuan sat down beside her without saying a word, silently keeping her company as she enjoyed the scenery.

Having lived in this world for so long, he doesn't have much time to quietly appreciate the scenery.

A mountain breeze rustled a few strands of hair at Youmeng's temples. She remained silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke softly.
"Thank you."

Lin Xuan turned his head and found that she was focused on looking down the mountain and not looking at him.

He asked, puzzled, "What are you thanking me for?"

Youmeng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you for not telling Qingluan the truth."

Lin Xuan was slightly taken aback, then remembered that Youmeng had once told him not to tell anyone else about that matter, and said with a hint of apology, "I'm sorry, I don't want to deceive Qingluan."

Youmeng gave a soft "hmm" and did not blame him.

This is already the best ending.

She turned to look at Lin Xuan, subtly changing the subject: "Now can you tell me who planted the Heart-Eating Gu in you?"

This wasn't the first time she had asked, and given their current relationship, Lin Xuan had no reason to hide it from her.

“A spy from Nanzhao… At that time, I was just a flag officer in the Jingbian Division of Sizhou. She controlled me with Gu worms and forced me to provide intelligence to Nanzhao.”

He spoke slowly, his voice calm, as if he were telling a story unrelated to himself.

After listening, Youmeng said softly, "So, the girl A'luo that Qingluan mentioned is the Nanzhao spy who planted the Heart-Eating Gu in you..."

Lin Xuan nodded slightly.

Youmeng was silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Do you still like her?"

Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "It's all in the past."

Once upon a time, A Luo was the light that illuminated his dark life, but when Lin Xuan learned that the darkness itself was brought by her, even if she risked her life to "avenge" him, the two could never go back to the way things were.

Youmeng didn't ask any more questions, but simply rested her chin gently on her lap, her gaze distant.

The two sat quietly on the rooftop, letting the mountain wind blow and watching the clouds gather and disperse.

Time seemed to have returned to the ancestral land of Jiuli, to the moment they ascended the Heavenly Steps and sat atop the Ancestral Spirit Mountain to enjoy the view. But something was different from then on...

(End of this chapter)